The Forgotten Scout: Barricade's Story
by daughter-of-morningstar
Summary: After the destruction of the Allspark in Mission City, Barricade finds himself all alone on Earth with the constant threat of being discovered by the Autobots. So what happened during his time before Megatron's resurrection? And who's the human girl helping him? Set Pre-ROTF.
1. CH 1: Meetings in a Storm

**The Forgotten Scout**

**Author's Rant: A Decepticon's Story. Ever wondered exactly what happened to 'bad cop' Barricade in between Michael Bay's first and second Transformers movies? Why was he no where to be seen in RotF? Well I just hate watching memorable characters get cut out of second movies after having key roles in the first. So consider this a little pay back to Mr. Bay for ruining TF ROTF for me. No one ditches my favorite character and replaces his potential screen time with promotional footage on: 'How great the American Army is at pwning Decepticons.' I swear to god, why the hell must all of this guy's movies promote America's armed forces? Okay. We get it. People in England aren't as stupid as you think Michael Bay. We know how 'amazing' the US army is without public reminders in live action movies of my childhood television shows. Honestly, I came to the Cinema that day to enjoy "TRANSFORMERS" not "AMERICA YOU RULE." But I digress. Sorry folks. Anyway, given that Barricade was so unceremoniously dropped from the movie, I decided about a year ago to write his own adventures between the first and second movies. It's only now i've actually started writing it. Well without any further time wasting, here's the start. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.**

_**'Blah' Cybertronian**_

_**'**__Blah' Thinking_

_'_ Blah' General talking and narration

**Chapter 1****: Meetings in a Storm**

The city was unusually quite for a friday evening. Perhaps it was because it had only being a few months since the events of the 'so-called doomsday' and the rebuilding was still in progress. Or maybe it was because heavy rain was lashing down like whips on the darken streets; cutting up anyone foolish enough to be walking the pavement at nightfall. The black roads remained undisturbed until the powerful beam of a police car's headlights lit up each avenue as it travelled almost cautiously around the newly refurbished city.

It is a well-known fact that the public citizens of any town or city dislike the police. But fortunately for them, they've never had the pleasure of being interrogated by this particular law enforcer. If the threatening logo: "to Punish and Enslave" wasn't enough to drive an uneasy chill to the core of any human, then surely the transformation from car to giant homicidal robot would cause the individual to tremble in fear at every police car they ever saw on the street again. (Providing they had survived of course.)

As it turns out though, the Decepticon known as Barricade was more concerned about his current situation than terrorizing the human population. The mech thought carefully and weighed his options whilst cruising along the roads. Ever since the first and only battle on Earth between Decepticons and Autobots, not only had Barricade being unable to arrive on time at Mission City; (as a result of avoiding the Autobot Leader, Optimus Prime's attempt to turn him into scrap-metal just like his fellow decepticon, Bonecrusher); he had also being unable to activate his navigation system, which had been malfunctioning ever since his fight with that yellow autobrat, Bumblebee. Consequently, Barricade finally showed up when the city was in ruins; his allies and leader dead; the Autoscum victorious, and that traitorous second-in-commander Starscream, fleeing into space and leaving him completely alone. Stranded on an insect infested rock with a battalion of Autobots and the threat of their reinforcements approaching. Fan- Fragging Tastic.

Right now, Barricade had three options: 1) Attempt to make contact with Decepticons still out in space. 2) Run towards the accursed human-loving transformers, guns a'blazing and attack until he too was deactivated in the process; or 3) To hide his signal from all radar and satellite transmissions and try to remain undetectable until receiving further instruction or aid from fellow Cons Starscream may be sending towards Earth. For two solid months, Barricade had stuck with the more desirable plan (3), but after so much time alone on an alien planet, option (2) was beginning to look very tempting. Regardless, Barricade felt that a suicidal attempt to destroy the Autobots and their human pets was probably a better alternative than rusting from sheer boredom. It might not have been so bad if he had at least one ally here, but unfortunately, Scorponok was still in a desert on the other side of the world and Frenzy had been killed by the humans. Despite however annoying that little Glitch might have been, even his incessant chattering would have come as both comfort and relief.

All of a sudden, Barricade's thoughts were rudely interrupted by the sound of a violent struggle outside. Normally, the decepticon wouldn't concern himself with such primitive human fighting, but on this particular night, he had no choice but to brake harshly when one of those disgusting fleshbags was thrown across his bonnet. The human slid down his metal finish and flopped onto the concrete with a dull thud and a painful groan. Torn between outrage and curiosity, Barricade swerved around and carefully approached the shadowy alleyway that the human had been tossed from, turning off his headlights as he did so. (But not before briefly considering running over the filthy insect still lying in the road.)

Observing the darken street through infrared lenses, the Saleen was able to see that there were at least ten humans. Four of which were unconscious, and the ones still standing consisted of three men and three women. From a quick analysis of the situation based on each human's postures, expressions, and adrenaline levels, Barricade came to the conclusion that this was a "gang fight" between two human factors and one of the groups had already triumphed over the all of the others. All except one. A lone female seemed to be holding her own against the two other women while the three males watched in amusement. None of them had even noticed his presence at the mouth of the alley. No longer interested in the antics of these humans, Barricade began to retreat back on to the road but stopped abruptly upon seeing what happened next. One of the males; clearly fed up with how long it was taking his female companions to defeat their opponent; walked around behind the girl they were fighting, and with a fist raised high, the man brought it down with a solid punch to her unprotected face. Almost comically, the young fleshy femme went flying into the nearest wall and connected with a hard smack. Barricade watched in sick fascination as the girl started to crawl back to her feet, trembling from the cold rain whipping her skin, and spitting out blood from her freshly bleeding mouth. Just before she was standing completely upright, one of the men delivered a swift high kick to her ribs bringing her back down to her knees. The group surrounded her quickly; laughing at her attempts to get back up. Finally one of the males bent down and spoke with a vicious sneer:

"Give it up Krauss. You're outnumbered with no more of your 'Spic friends to help you. It's over you stupid Bitch." The girl looked up at the one who was talking and spat in his face with a murderous glare.

"Fouck Yoou!" she slurred her words but they still retained their venomous edge. This defiant act earned her a few more painful kicks to her ribs and stomach until another male halted the attack with a dismissive wave to offer a suggestion.

"Let's string the little tramp up near the Cuban district and have them find her."

"Good idea. But first-" The third man stopped and pulled out a small handgun from inside his coat pocket and pressed the barrel against the girl's forehead. "We should finish her. It'll be kinder to put the bitch out of her misery." The safety was flicked off with a click and the battered girl; upon realizing how hopeless her situation was; closed her eyes and whispered so quietly that Barricade had to increase his audio magnification to hear it:

"I'm not afraid of dying."

At this, something jolted in the decepticon's programming. Something he had not thought about in many stellar cycles when he was still a youngling himself. His memory circuits flashed momentarily into overdrive mode and lasted long enough to show himself watching from the shadows as a group of Autobots encircled a wounded Decepticon mech. After praising themselves profusely for their capture, the leader stepped forward and deactivated the 'con's spark then and there. Afterwards, Barricade had spent a lot of time thinking over what he had witnessed. Regardless of the obvious fact that the autobots and the decepticons were at war, and that death was not only inevitable, but essential. It had never felt right to see such an appalling way to die. There had been no honor or dignity in that mech's death. Nothing fair or kind about toying with an already dying spark followed by a point blank execution when he couldn't get back up anymore. He was outnumbered, unarmed, badly damaged, and it seemed that the only difference between that day and now is that these creatures are human. Why should he have to endure this display twice, and at the hands of humans no less? _'I refuse to watch it happen again. I won't standby and witness a bunch of worthless fleshlings mirror that moment of my past in front of me,_' Barricade internally roared. Without a moment's hesitation, he revved his engine, illuminated the alley with his headlights, and surged forwards aggressively towards the gang, sirens flashing.

"Shit! Cops!" One of them screamed, causing the group to sprint off in different directions. The male with the gun paused in his action and looked up bewildered at the holographic decepticon now exiting the car and marching down the narrow alleyway towards him with a face that promised a world of pain. To Barricade's surprise, his presence was all the distraction needed for the girl to retaliate against her would-be-murderer, by rapidly delivering an uppercut punch to the man's chin, snapping his head backwards before collapsing into a heap on the floor.

An eternity of silence settled with only the sound of thunderous rain in the background. Now that there was some light in this dark corridor from his headlamps, Barricade could finally see the human femme whose life he'd just saved without the use of infrared. She was not like the other fleshy females the 'con had observed on this planet so far. She was not what her 'society' had deemed to be 'beautiful' or even 'pretty' for that matter. She was small in stature, standing at barely 5ft in height, and appeared to be a little undernourished given how taunt her paper-white skin was over the bones of her bare arms. The clothing she wore seemed very inappropriate for this kind of weather, consisting mainly of sports shorts and an extra-large, sleeveless hoodie, all completely soaked. She had next to no feminine curves that, until now, Barricade had assumed came as a requirement to all human women. Unsure that he had made a mistake when he identified her as female, the 'con performed a followup scan for confirmation of her sex. With her wet black hair falling just short of her shoulders and her body resembling that of a young boy, Barricade found himself double checking his scans that all came up as female.

Whether she was aware of the scrutinizing way she was being examined, the girl chose to ignore it in favor of checking over both her unconscious allies and enemies. Her expression remain one of cold indifference as she did so. Finally, she stopped at the one who had held the gun to her forehead to briefly consider his knocked-out form before kicking him square in the face and breaking his nose. He groaned softly, no doubt feeling a twinge of pain in his comatose state which would turn to sheer agony the moment he came to. Satisfied, she cast a fleeting glance at Barricade, and addressed his presence with a simple question: "Vill yoou be arresting us?" The Decepticon raised a holographic eyebrow, not fully understanding the girl's pronunciation of English. If still sounded like she was slurring her words like as though intoxication. So instead of answering her, he opted to remain silent until she spoke again, louder. "I said, Are yoou arresting us?" Her voice, he now realized, was heavily accented with Russian that went unnoticed earlier and practically oozed animosity.

"I have no such intention of condemning your behaviour with imprisonment. Your pathetic warfare is not my concern," he replied as he turned towards his alt-form to leave. His intervention was done and the girl was no longer his problem.

"I coould of handled it!" Her furious shriek made him stop and look at her again. Her face was flushed bright pink as her fists shook with fury. "If yoou do not like getting involved, then maybe yoou should have keep driving instead of barging in vhere your not wanted. I do not need your help! I had everything under control!" Her whole body trembled as she spoke through grit teeth.

Barricade's own anger spiked considerably at her words, but he fought to subdue it. "Yes I agree. Your attempt at suicide was going impressively well until I interrupted. Next time though, I suggest an alternative method of self-induced demise. Perhaps one that includes heights," he retorted spitefully. How dare this ungrateful little fleshling show him such open disrespect! He was wearing the guise of her Kind's law enforcers! (*Barricade has yet to learn exactly how 'respected' the police are in any country*). This insect should be thanking him on bent knees, not shouting abuse at him because she was so weak and incapable of defeating a handful of foes.

"I do not expect a Militsiya to understand." Ignoring Barricade once more, the girl slipped a hand into her shorts' pocket and pulled out a rather battered mobile phone to dial 911. "Allo? Ambulance please. There's being a fight in an alley on 15th Avenue. Hurry, they are hurt bad." She hung up on the operator in mid-conversation; flipped her drenched hood over her head, and bolted past the decepticon hologram like a wounded cheetah, muttering something in garbled Russian that was either 'Thank You' or 'Fuck you.'

It took a few good minutes of cooling his whirling system before Barricade was able to return to his Saleen form and continue driving around aimlessly. _**'What an irritatingly arrogant fleshbag that femme was!'**_he growled in Cybertronian. She clearly had no idea who she was messing with. _**'Maybe I should have let her die. Nah. The image would have left a bad aftertaste in my CPU. I haven't been this infuriated since Frenzy was my-' **_Barricade slammed the brakes on in surprise and skidded to a stop. The thought had not occurred to him until now, but that girl and his deceased overactive hacker companion seemed to have the same annoying effect of instigating and encouraging his fits of infallible rage.

The decepticon scout deleted the realization from his thought processor and resumed his patrol. With any luck, he would probably never see or even recognize the female again. Besides, he had important business to consider. Like whether or not it was physically possible to defeat the autobot nuisance single-handedly. After another hour of circling the city, Barricade found a suitable garage to spend the rest of the night recharging without fear of detection.

He quickly descended into dreams he would not remember.

_****** TBC ******_

Meanings of Russian words used:

Militsiya - Policeman/cop.

Allo - Hey.

**Note: Not bad for an intro I think, but not my best. If I've made mistake I'm sorry. Unlike real authors I lack the money to employee an editor to check over my work. Bu then again I'm only 18 so who the hell cares. I certainty don't. Hope you like so far, I just had to have an OC somewhere in this didn't I? Don't worry though, I'm not planning on making her some typical mary sue to ship with 'officer Barricade' to satisfy my own needs. Surprisingly enough, I have a life and see no point in trying to put my own personality into a character of utter perfection and completely fuck up a decent storyline.**

**For those of you who have bothered to even read this and want a few spoilers for this story then you're in luck: First of all, THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE FIC. Second, the next chapter will contain the whole reason behind my little Russian OC's point to this story. Third, By chapter 4, a better description of her facial features (such as hair, eye colour, etc) will be taken into consideration as well as a new holo-form for barricade. So far, this one is my favorite by http:/ skatanic. deviantart. com /art/TF-Humans-II-Decepticons-64328755 I think it captures him rather well. And Fourth, the other decepticons will start making an appearance as the story progresses.**

**Well that's if for now. I'll try to have another chapter by the time July comes around. Ciao.**


	2. CH 2: Go ahead Please enlighten me

**The Forgotten Scout**

**Author's Note: Well this is my explanation chapter. Sorry no Barricade. He'll be back in Chapter three, I promise. I said that I would get Ch2 up before June was out. Now I Hope to get the third one out before Saturday. Anyway, I'm getting carried away here. I made this chapter to tie up any loose ends about my OC, as well as giving her a brief family background with the introduction of her older brother, and finally this chapter gives 'Krauss' a reason to be important to the over all plot of my Fanfic. I won't waste any more of your time (or paper space) with my blogging. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.**

_**'Blah' Cybertronian**_

_**'**__Blah' Russian/Spanish and thinking_

_'_ Blah' General talking and narration

**Chapter 2****: Go ahead. Please enlighten me.**

Yuri Levitsky lounged comfortably in his imported red leather chair within the confines of his dimly lit study. He enjoyed the seclusion and the rare moment of quiet while it lasted; knowing full well that his dear younger 'sister' would eventually join him and attempt to justify her rumored actions of the previous night.

It was an effort to remain calm after hearing that his foolish sibling was nearly brought home in a casket with a bullet through her head. His blood started to boil in his veins out of sheer rage at her incompetence. She was bringing nothing but shame to the family who had picked her out of the gutters of Moskva, fed her, clothed her, taught her everything she knew, and raised her to womanhood. Yuri gnashed his teeth together at the very image of that insufferable little brat. To say that Yuri Levitsky did not get on well with his sister was so understated, that to suggest such a thing within earshot would end up with your corpse being hauled out of the bay by local fishermen. Yuri Levitsky completely loathed her. She was flawed, arrogant, infuriating girl, who had been the family favorite from the moment she had first stumbled through their front door. If Yuri had been the Head of the Family, then little Krauss would have been disposed of a long time ago. Unfortunately, Grandfather was alive and kicking, so he still ran things in this business.

A swift knocking sound quickly disrupted his thoughts. Regaining his composure, Yuri cleared his throat and said in a commanding voice:_ "Vvodit'." _The door of of his study creaked open slowly, and the bulky figure of his main bodyguard bowed respectfully towards his boss.

"_Prostite ·eer,_ Your _Sestra_ has arrived," he informed him with another bow.

"Very well. Send her in," Yuri replied in perfect English, waving his hand irritably. His voice now contained only the slightly hint of a Russian accent, and he was quite pleased with how easily he could shift between the pronunciation of his two languages.

_"Sudarʹ,"_ The man retreated and closed the door. Yuri had just enough time to paste a brotherly smile on his face before it reopened to reveal his younger sister, looking ashen and grim. The smirk on the elder Russian's face widened to a flashy grin when his eyes caught sight of the bandages hastily applied to her petite frame.

_"S priezdom, dorogaya sestra._ Take a seat, we have much to discuss," he drawled in a pale imitation of kindness. Nodding in response, the girl took a seat in front of her brother's immaculate, antique desk. Yuri watched intently as she settled into the cold wooden chair, wincing every time pressure was put on her wounded skin.

"Comfortable?" he asked spitefully. His sister glared slightly, but made no comment; so he continued: "I've been hearing some interesting information about you. Rumor has it that a few nights ago you got yourself involved in a petty street brawl. And not only did you get beaten to a pulp, but you nearly got killed as well." Yuri stood up and sauntered over to his sister to look down at her. She met his stare with her own, still remaining silent. Her insolence was making his fingers tremble with the tempting desire to strangle her right here.

"So care to explain? Or even retort with one of your classic witty insults? Do you have Anything to say in your defence?" He waited for a few moments for a reaction before allowing hatred and frustration to explode. The vexing quiet was broken by the harsh echo of a slap, as Yuri's hand connected swiftly with his sister's cheek.

"_TY, SUKA! Kak vy smyeete!_ Is this 'ow you repay us? After everything this family has done for you!" Yuri kicked her chair violently, making it topple backwards, and sending the girl sprawling to the floor. He advanced towards her and stamped on her outstretched hand; peevishly grinding his feet onto soft flesh. Yuri looked on with increasing rage when the girl bit her bottom lip until blood began to seep down her chin. He despised it to know that her refusal to scream was another act of defiance against him. Reaching out, he grabbed her by the hair and tugged it upwards at the roots until he heard a small choked sob from his sister's form.

"Let me remind you of something _Sestra_. We brought you to _Amerika_ for one purpose only. Our family has been working on behalf of _Rossiya_ and her Government for generations, regarding missions of National Security. Once again, our beloved Homeland has called for Our aid." Yuri paused and released his sister's hair, letting her slump to the floor. "Your Objective is as follows: 'To Infiltrate the USA's Mission City, and gain as much intelligence as possible on the recent cover-up of the unexplained events that occurred there.' Our government believes that _Amerika_ has been creating newly advanced weapons of mass destruction, that probably detonated too close to Mission City's vicinity, resulting in untold damage.

"You were sent to this country, to find out what exactly happened in this city by any means necessary. But instead of focusing on the job at hand, YOU decided to pick a fight-" SLAP! "For no good reason. A gang fight-" Another SLAP! "You almost lost! You're a _Pozor_ to the Levitsky family name, Krauss!" Yuri hissed as he marked her face with one final slap. He heard a faint, muffled cry; but could not see if his sister was the cause. Her head was bowed, making her thick dark fringe hid her face from his view. He circled the kneeling girl twice, then crouched down to her level; and with one slender finger, raised her chin to look at him. This time, when he spoke, his voice was soothing as one would expect from an older brother.

"Listen carefully Krauss. Because of the love our Grandfather showers you in, I am willing to give you a last chance. You are one of _Rossiya_'s greatest hackers are you not? If anyone can find out what happened in Mission City three months ago, it is you. I don't care how you do it, whether it be through disabling viruses, or a direct attack on the _Amerikanskiĭ_ computer mainframe. Just get it done and go back Home."

At this, Krauss finally met his steely gaze with a look of her own. Her eyes were nearly black with dislike as they bore searing holes into his clear forest green ones. Her teeth were bared and a small rivulet of blood curled around her cheek from an unknown wound. She looked feral and wild, like a rabid wolf. Yuri half expected her to start growling and snap at his hand. But the expression passed, and the emotion emptied out of her face as though it was never there to begin with. Instead, Krauss wrenched herself out of Yuri's hand and climbed painfully to her feet.

"Vill that be all _Starshiĭ brat_?" These were the first words she'd uttered since entering the room. Yuri stood as well, easily towering over her at full height.

"Only that if you fail me again, I will personally ensure that you serve out the rest of your life standing on a street corner as a common _Shlyuha._ Now get out." Yuri sneered and returned to his chair; then added as an afterthought in a gentle voice: _"Da svidaniya, dorogaya sestra."_

Krauss frowned and wordlessly left the study, closing the door with a long sigh. Tension was heavy throughout her entire body, and the desire to leave her elder brother's frigid mansion nearly overwhelmed her. She started to march towards the main entrance, ignoring the concerned inquiries and polite greetings of the household servants. Her boots dragged against the marble finish of the floors, scuffing the polish as she approached the exit. Some of the maids tutted disapprovingly and muttered under their breaths about how they'll need to buff the flooring again. But Krauss didn't care; she kicked open the large, oak double doors onto the busy street outside, where a young man was sat waiting for her on the front steps. The young Russian girl, walked past him and got halfway down the high street before she heard her name being called in frantic Spanish. She stopped dead and listened to his loud footsteps quieten beside her.

"_Maldita sea_ Krauss! Huff... Ahh... Koff! What's the rush?" he demanded, bent over gasping for air. The Russian exhaled and regarded her Mexican friend critically. They couldn't have looked more different to any onlooker. She was short and stringy. He was tall, broad, deeply tanned, and had an easy smile. The small black-bead rosary, Krauss knew that he never took off, was glittering in the sun over his white tank top. Since meeting him just over a month ago, Krauss had seen him clasp the crucifix into his fist and kiss it many times; especially when he was in the middle of a fire fight. After recovering his breath, the young Hispanic straightened up and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Oh, do not even start with me, Raimond," she snapped violently.

"Starting? I didn't say anything! You're starting!" he protested. The Russian girl glared at him before replying:

"You need not speak. I can tell by your expression that you vant to know what happened."

"Krauss. if you don't wanna talk about it then, I won't push it, alright?" Raimond placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry about it, ya?" Krauss pulled from his hold and started walking again; flipping up her hood and pocketing her hands as she did so.

"Are you hungry? Let's eat," Krauss muttered to her companion, who she knew was still following her. She strolled carelessly out into the road towards the restaurant across the street.

"You're hungry? Girl you _loco_. You don't need food, you need a hospital!" Raimond exclaimed in horror as he tried to follow his friend's path through oncoming traffic.

"I vill not set one foot in such a place," she replied once he had caught up with her.

"Krauss, you're no doctor. You need help," Raimond attempted to reason with the girl, but he was cut off when he felt the cold steel press of a flick-knife against his stomach. His friend's face was hidden beneath her hood, but there was no doubt that it was deadly serious.

"Do not push me Rai. Zis does not concern yoou." She removed the blade and added in a hushed tone. "If yoou follow. Yoou die." Without another word, Krauss broke into a run and sprinted down the street, leaving Raimond Fermandas dumbstruck on the road side.

_"Chert vozʹmi!" _Krauss cursed through the rag between her teeth as she cleaned both today's and last night's open wounds with a sponge dipped in Vodka. The alcohol burned her flesh, but it was effective. The Russian sat cross legged on the bare floor of small dark apartment, and continued her paltry attempts of first aid over the loud whale of sirens outside. The power had cut out about two hours ago, so the only light in the room she worked by was the laptop that lay open and operational on the bed beside her. Every so often, Krauss would look up at the screen to check its progress before looking back down at her shirtless body. After a few minutes of clumsy patchwork, a faint beeping from the computer disrupted her progess. Krauss stared back up at the screen to see her work had come to fruition. The Russian scrambled upon the bed covers to examine the information closer, despite the pain this action caused.

Contrary to Yuri's beliefs, for the past few weeks, Krauss had been obtaining various sources via hacking into the US mainframe over the events of Mission City, and asking around the local hustlers in the some of the shadier areas in town. So far, she had found nothing. Until now. Her latest search amongst government files had proved useful. Krauss hacked, downloaded, and transferred the files onto her laptop easily and opened them up. To her dismay, the files opened in an encrypted, coded language consisting of meaningless, unfamiliar symbols on the screen.

"_Chert vozʹmi!_" Krauss swore again under her breath as she scanned through the gibberish for some sort of recognizable word. Shaking her head, she right-clicked on the article and was about to delete it when she noticed the end of the letter 'Y' behind the confirmation box. Krauss quickly cancelled the option to read the small fragment of English in the entire text.

It read simply:- 'Project Ice Man, Discovered by Captain Archibald Witwicky.'

She trembled with excitement. Aside from a few crackpot stories of attention seeking individuals claiming that they witnessed the events of the American Michael Bay movie: 'Armageddon' in Mission City. This was the first piece of real importance she had found.

"I am not sure how this fits with the _Amerikanskiĭ_ 'cover up' yet, but I guess its a start," Krauss murmured as she typed this information into her internet search engine, and clicked 'Enter.' She growled slightly at the hits she received. Most of them led to websites for winter sportsman, the abdominal snowman, and professional ice sculptors. Scrolling back to the top of the screen, Krauss removed most of the words and tried searching just: 'Archibald Witwicky.' This proved just as disappointing. No one had even heard of Captain Archibald Witwicky; let alone know he had discovered something.

The sites contained various people who shared the same surname, from Facebook relatives, to ebay pages where some American boy by the name of Witwicky called himself 'Ladiesman217.'... Americans have strange ideas of humour.

Irritated, Krauss slammed the laptop shut, causing the room to descend into complete darkness; but then she seemed to reconsider and opened it once more. The Russian girl inserted a 2GB USB into her computer and transferred her collected files onto it for safe keeping; just in case she managed to find a way to translate it later. She closed it again and sat cross legged for a while in silence, before slipping off her double bed towards her pile of clothes that lay discarded by the first aid kit and Vodka on the floor. Hurriedly, but carefully, she eased herself into a pair of tight light blue jeans, and a long sleeved white turtleneck; tucking the USB into her back pocket. Once dressed, she picked up a large caramel coloured jacket and a pair of light brown boots. They were too big for her feet, but seeing as her trainers were still soaked from the previous night's heavy rain, she had no choice.

Krauss walked out of the apartment, locked it, and stepped into the neon illuminated street with the desire to clear her head of all the crap and stress building up. She noticed that the night was strangely warm during her walk; although it was probably due to her lifestyle back in Moscow that she did not feel the chills of American air. As usual, a familiar homesickness rose in her throat like bile when ever she thought of Russia. She missed the icy kingdom of her childhood where everything was white with snow, and silver with cold crystal icicles. But this world was grey with metal and stone; just the occasional green palm tree on the sidewalk. Even the blinding sunlight that so common in the US offered nothing to brighten the atmosphere. _'The sooner I finish Yuri's dirty work, the sooner I can get out of this place,'_ Krauss thought bitterly. She began to ponder her next move, blissfully unaware of the inhuman eyes that considered her from across the street.

************TBC***********

**Russian Words: (Remember, these are not the actual words but rather the pronuciation, to making reading easier for you guys) **

_sudar_ʹ - sir

_Prostite ·eer_ - Excuse me sir

_dorogaya sestra_ - My dear sister

_S priezdom_ - welcome home

_Starshiĭ brat_ - older brother

_Amerikanskiĭ_ - American

_Amerika_ - America

_Rossiya_ - Russia

_Drug_- friend

_Tovarishch_ - comrade

_chert vozʹmi_ - damn it

_poshel na huĭ!_ - fuck you!

_YA tebya nenavizhu_ - I hate you

_Shlyuha_ - whore

_Pozor_ - disgrace

_Kak vy smyeete_ - how dare you

_zatknisʹ_ - shut up

_Ty, suka_ - you little bitch

**Spanish words:**

_maldita sea_ - damn it!

_Loco_ - Crazy

**Next Chapter: Barricade finds out about Krauss' little 'mission' and has a choice to make.**


	3. CH 3: This is My Predicament My Catch22

**The Forgotten Scout**

**Author's Note: Finally things are starting to move along nicely. To be honest guys, I know these first couple of chapters are moving knida slow but that's only because i'm trying to cover my base here. I don't want Barricade and Krauss to become friends rights off the bat. Nor do I want them to to be thrown together like most fanfics nowadays. I want a deep coverage of the beginnings of their encounters before anything exciting and dramatic starts happening. If you are frustrated by this method, then all I ask is that you bear with me until Chapter 5. Chapter 5 basically equals their first introduction as partners and all the stupid, funny, nasty stuff they do to get on each others nerves. Well, until then. I hope you enjoy Chapter 3.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. But I do own the rights to my OC: Natalya Krauss.**

_**'Blah' Cybertronian**_

_**'**__Blah' Russian/Spanish and thinking_

_'_ Blah' General talking and narration

**Chapter 3:**** This is my Predicament. My Catch-22.**

The last thing the Decepticon Scout Barricade expected to see again, was the vexing fleshie femme he had encountered the previous night. Today had been particularly uneventful so far. He had patrolled the city many times, as well as monitoring the progress of the Autobots, and maintaining the undetectable distress signal that he was sending out to any decepticons approaching the Earth's proximity. So far, his efforts had been in vain, and the boredom was setting in faster than before.

Fortunately by nightfall, these feelings had completely vanished; replaced instead with resentment when he recognized the small human female walking down one of high streets with her hands in her jacket pockets and her head bowed low. The Saleen watched her wander down the road in deep concentration on something clearly bothering her. Barricade briefly considered crushing her for light entertainment; after terrifying her by transforming of course. It wasn't like she didn't deserve it.

But the idea came to a swift end when he noticed her stop abruptly and fumble into her jeans for a black mobile phone, vibrating and beeping wildly. When she answered it by the fourth ring, a strange, crackling, static-charged noise started to fizzling in the Decepticon's CPU.

"_Allo?_" The familiar heavy Russian accent reverberated through his audio system, making Barricade jolt in surprise. After a few moments of confusion, the 'con groaned irritably when he realized that once again his malfunctioning internal systems were acting up again. It just hadn't been the same since his fight with the Autobrat Bumblebee; and with no Frenzy to fix it, Barricade had been picking up stray radio signals from things like local music stations, at almost any random time. One night he had been in the middle of a recharge, when something called: 'Rock You Like A Hurricane' blasted his audio circuits and rudely awoken him.

Other problems such as his Satellite Navigation System leading him astray; and both his Weapon Control and Energon levels spiraling into disorder, were bad enough. But now that he was picking up phone conversations, was just the icing on top of the cake. **'Slagging Great. Now I have to listen to this Human drivel,'** The Saleen grumbled in Cybertronian as he tried to disconnect himself from the mobile's wavelength.

_"Preevyet... Dorogaya Sestra," _The responding voice, Barricade noted, was male, obviously Russian as well; and came out as a malevolent hiss.

"Vhat do you Vant Yuri?" He heard she sigh wearily, which ruined the commanding tone to her voice.

"Why, merely to check on your progress. I'm sure you've finally settled down with the task at hand," The unknown speaker chuckled in a manner that puzzled the Saleen. Human humour was pretty difficult to grasp at times.

"_Chert vozʹmi," _Barricade just made out her whispered curse.

"What was that?" The brother's tone darkened with an unspoken warning.

"I did not speak, _Brat_. I vas joust about too tell yoou, zhat I have found information," Barricade snorted in amusement at her poor mastery of the English Language. He wasn't even a native of this planet, and he had managed to download every human language directly into CPU without even breaking coolant.

"Really? Prey tell _Dorogaya Sestra." _The reply was cold with contempt.

"I believe zhat zhe attack on Mission City is connected to some sort of Government experiment known as Project: Ice Man." The eavesdropping Decepticon never knew a fleshling could make his energon freeze in his wiring until right now. This child possessed the knowledge that He, Frenzy, and his fellow 'Cons had strived so hard to find? Had Barricade been human, he would have widened his eyes in a horrified manner and attempt to sneak closer towards the conversation. But Barricade was not a flesh creature; so instead, he just stopped trying to disconnect from the phone call; increased the frequency of his connection to the signal; and pulled over on the opposite side of the road.

"What is this 'Project: Ice Man?'" The other Russian sounded intrigued.

"I... _Eez-vee-née-tye_. I could not decode zhe language of zhe text. It vas vitten in symbols. I am investigating it further _Brat_." The Saleen considered her statement carefully. **'So, the fleshie femme is collecting information on us. What a fool. She doesn't even understand what she's dealing with,'** the Con scoffed in Cybertronian. Despite the ambiguity of the conversation, Barricade was intelligent enough to comprehend that this Russian girl had sent to Mission City in order to uncover the truth hidden from the rest of the world about his kind.

"I see. So the files were encoded? Could you recognize any of the symbols? Even guess what language it could have been?" The irritation was creeping back into the speaker's voice. It would appear that there was a huge amount of tension between these two human siblings.

"_Nyet, Starshiĭ Brat_. Zhe language didn't... It didn't even look... Human." Her reply faltered at the end as though embarrassed at her answer.

"Don't be ridiculous, it has to be human! Languages were never your forte anyway, _Sestra_. Just look at the way you speak for God's sake! You must be reading it wrong. Send the data to one of our translators and have them work it out. _Chert vozʹmi_! Must I do everything myself?" The male voice snapped back. His voice, Barricade observed, now continued high levels of aggression and hatred towards his femme sister, which astonished the Saleen. Back on Cybertron, there could not have been a more powerful bond than between siblings. Well, except perhaps spark-mates. But this was not Cybertron, it was Earth; and clearly its inhabitants were not only different in structure, but mentality as well.

Barricade amplified his visual scanners to study the girl's expressionless face as her brother continued to rant and curse her for a failure that; in the Decepticon's mind; seemed fabricated. Her facial construction did not alter or adjust during this torrent of verbal abuse; she merely stared ahead, unblinkingly with cold stoicism. The brother finally stopped his endless stream of complaints and spat out one last word of 'advice.'

"Remember _Sestra_, it would be in your best interest to just do your job, and do it right this time." The line went dead, and the Russian girl closed her phone and slipped it back into a pocket out of sight.

_"Chto ja sobirajus' delat' teper'?" _She muttered bitterly and tugged at a loose grey thread unravelling from her shirt absentmindedly. Barricade couldn't help but watch her confusion as he pondered his own new situation before him. However limited her knowledge of the Cybertronian Race and their secrets appeared to be, it was nonetheless present and currently being used to possibly uncover their existence as a world wide threat, (which it was of course). Thus giving this world a chance to make more of those armour piercing weapons he had heard about from Blackout and Scorponok; that could penetrate even a Decepticon's protective plating, and potentially eliminate any false hopes of future reinforcements to aid him in the war against the Autobots and their Human Allies.

The horrific and full scale reality of his predicament almost caused Barricade's system to crash, but he quickly cooled it down and began to think logically about his dilemma.

**The Problem** before him was fairly simplistic: A human femme has possession of technological files full of intelligence on his entire race.

**The Result**: This child had the power to completely jeopardize any plan of attack by the Decepticons upon earth and its inhabitants. Unfortunately, the solution to this scenario were a little more complex.

The easiest thing to do would be to crush the fleshling to death after a torturous interrogation to extract everything she knew about the Cybertronians from her. Then again, there was always the chance that killing this squishy would cause more problems than it solved should her family send others to investigate her sudden disappearance; or perhaps worst of all, killing the brat could ruin his 'Incognito' presence within the City, and arose the suspicions of the Autobots.

His second idea was even less appealing and consisted of just the interrogation that will completely terrify her, but ultimately, she would be allowed to live. However, this would once again endanger him. If the girl was to call someone;

anyone and tell them of her experience, then whose to say that the Autobots wouldn't be tuning in through the phone lines. No doubt they would be very interested in listening to a hysterical teenage girl babbling about 'giant robots' and 'transforming cars.'

So with his best ideas now shot down, Barricade had one last chance left. If he couldn't kill or traumatize the squishy female, then he would have to approach it on peaceful terms. Play the _'Good Cop'_ so to speak, and lure her into a false sense of security. She obviously wanted information herself. Information and internal knowledge that Barricade could easily give, providing he got something in exchange. It was only fair. One good turn deserves another and all that human rubbish. **'Hmm. It might just work. I'll satisfy her curiosity and tell the fleshie everything she wants to know. Then I'll make her return the favour and hand over that data.'** The Saleen mused mentally. **'After we're done, I'll just leave her stranded in some wasteland terrain. She'll die eventually of exposure, far away from any being who might find her.' **

Barricade checked the retinal scanners still fixed upon the Russian, who had thankfully remained where she was standing since her phone conversation. She was now leaning heavily on the nearest wall behind her, and seemed to be biting the ends of own fingers; a habit, Barricade recognized, as a human's bizarre way of showing boredom or stress.

With a quick Rev of his engine (the equivalent of a human sigh), the decepticon scout pulled away from the pavement, span himself around in the middle of the road, and approached the distracted child slowly. Barricade had plenty of time to activate his hologram before the fleshling looked up to acknowledge his presence. They stayed like that for a few moments, just watching each other, trying to guess the what the other was thinking. Finally, the decepticon made the first move by winding down his passenger window and extending a gesturing hand towards the girl, beckoning her over to the car. The Russian Teen responded by lifting her body off the wall and sauntering over to lean in through the open window.

"Yoou vant business Cop? Or are yoou vindow shopping? Either way, I'm not for sale," she drawled in throaty low Russian. Barricade quirked an eyebrow at her question and processed it through his system for clarification. **'Hm. She thinks that I think she's a... what do humans call them? ... Ahh, a prostitute.'** The thought both amused and revolted him.

"I assure you... Child, that I have no such interest. I only want you to get in the car so that we can talk more privately. Just talk." He added in his most assertive voice; so he was surprised to see her shake her head and take a step backwards.

"No vay. I've seen zhis too many time too fall zhis. Your 'Friends' are probably waiting in zhe alley for us, yes?" Her adrenaline levels were starting to sky rocket in panic despite her cool, scoffing exterior.

"My intentions are strictly professional," Barricade found himself snapping back in disgust at what she was implying.

"Ja. Riiight. Vhy should I trust yoou?" She retorted. "You _Militsiya_ are all zhe same. Hypocrites, and Corrupt. Vhy should yoou be different?" She crossed her arms in open defiance, and waited for an answer.

"You are investigating the recent cover up over the devastation that occurred in Mission City three months ago, correct?" Barricade asked bluntly; tired of her abusive remarks and irritating questions. To his satisfaction, the fleshling visibly paled to an ashen grey.

"How- how did yoou-" she stuttered momentarily and calmed herself down to answer his question. "_Da_. Yoou are right."

"Well then, now that we have an understanding..." Barricade lazily opened the passenger seat door, and observed the child beside him over his sunglasses. "I suggest you come with me. I have a preposition for you."

**********TBC**********

**Russian Words meaning:**

_Militsiya_ - Policeman/cop.

_Allo_ - Hey.

_dorogaya sestra_ - My dear sister

_Preevyet - _Hello (formal greeting)

_chert voz_ʹ_mi_ - damn it

_Eez-vee-née-tye - I_'m Sorry (Formal)

Brat - Brother

_Starshii Brat_ - Older Brother

_Sestra_ - Sister

_Nyet_ - No

_Chto ja sobirajus' delat' teper'? - _What am I going to do now?

**Next chapter: Barricade and Krauss make a dangerous Pact.**


	4. CH 4: I don't Kiss and Tell

**The Forgotten Scout**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. But I do own the rights to my OC: Natalya Krauss.**

**Authouress' Note: I have nothing to say except that I hope you like the new chapter.**

_**'Blah' Cybertronian**_

_'Blah' Russian and thinking_

' Blah' General talking and narration

**Chapter 4**: I Don't Kiss and Tell.

Krauss eyed the open door of the police car suspiciously; unsure as to whether or not she should accept the offer before her. On the one hand, the so-called 'information' this cop had to share could be nothing more than a rouse to lure her into the car. But, on the other hand, this guy could be telling the truth. Then again, who ever heard of an honest cop?

Regardless, Krauss slipped into the cool interior of the Saleen and pulled the door shut. There wasn't really a choice. If any opportunities presented themselves in this line of work, then the Russian was required to take whatever leads she could get. Even if her safety, or her life was at stake.

They drove in absolute silence for awhile, so the Russian teen used the chance to study her companion more closely. He seemed a fairly average man. The only thing unusual about him was the fact that he was wearing sunglasses at night. Apart from that, he looked like a perfectly normal...

Until his entire body flickered like a candle.

Krauss jumped in alarm and rubbed her eyes in disbelief. She could of swore that the cop's form just... vanished for a split second. But when she reopened her eyes, the officer was still there, not really paying her any attention, as solid and clear as ever was. Maybe it was because the lighting was so bad in the blacked out Police car, and was playing tricks with her eyes. _'It vas probably my imagination,_' she thought to herself dismissively.

"I've seen you before," Krauss murmured after a few more minutes of careful scrutiny of the Cop's face.

"Yes. We met last night," he confirmed monotonously, without even sparing her a glance. She glared slightly at his answer.

"So, did you save me and zhen start following me? Or vere you tailing me from zhe beginning?" She asked more out of anger than curiosity.

"I came across you yesterday and tonight purely by chance," he replied, still not meeting her gaze.

"Hmph. Vell, let's say I believe you. How zhen did yoou know about vhat I've been doing in zhis country?" Her scowl deepened as she let the suspicion creep into her voice.

"You will find out soon enough." His mysterious reply was menacingly low, and full of twisted amusement. Obviously, there was some sort of a joke in his words, that he wasn't going to let her in on; making it was clear that she wasn't getting any answers out of this man until they reached... where ever the hell they were headed. Lacking something to say back, Krauss just nodded in response, and relaxed from her tense position. With conversation dead, the eerie quiet built back up to crescendo again.

The Russian teen resorted to starring out of the blacked out windows; watching the nameless streets and peaceful neighbourhoods whizz by into blurred streaks. The grey of the urban jungle began to melt into the red and brown of the barren lands on the city outskirts, and then into the black of a nearby highway. At last, after what seemed like hours, the car gently rolled off the abandoned road, and braked in the sands of the expansive desert terrain, spread for miles on either side of the lonely motorway

"This location is secure. It's desolation will help us avoid unwanted detection," the officer said coolly, before glancing over at her. "Climb out, he ordered. Krauss made to unlock the car door, and drew back in surprise when the door clicked and swung open by itself. She paused for moment to allow a shiver of fearful uncertainty to shoot through her entire body. But once the feeling settled, she stepped out into the dusty, unfamiliar landscape, and proceeded to stumble around the darkness that was not lit up by the Saleen's headlights.

"Vhy did yoou bring me all zhe vay out-" She turned back to the Police car behind her in order to direct her question at it's driver. But her query stopped short in her throat, as she stared in horrified fascination, at what was happening to the vehicle in front of her.

The car she had just left, twisted and unravelled up into the sky. It uncurled like a spider spreading out its limbs, and started to rise. The metallic bonnet squashed itself inwards, covering the leather seats completely from sight. The engine unwrapped and twirled around a column of rigid metal that had slid out of nowhere. Krauss was entranced and stood gapping at the transforming car as pieces of jagged spikes either spiraled and slotted into various places; or span around into complex structures that fixed together as easily as a rubix cube.

Before long, the Russian was feeling pretty small and insignificant now that she was standing in the shadow of a towering 18ft tall robotic lifeform that was once a Ford Mustang Saleen S281E Police Cruiser. Krauss' eyes darted up and down the immense figure, studying it's autonomy intently; from its massive sharpened feet, to it's long arms where to number: 643 was imprinted across one servo. She stopped her examination to gaze at the giant's angular face; meeting what she assumed were his glowing red equivalent of eyes. They were narrowed in a manner that made the Russian wonder if he was frowning at her. So she returned the look with a glare of her own.

Despite the sheer size and the threatening way he loomed over her, she couldn't help but be impressed at how something as simple and ordinary as a car could just, for lack of a better word, transform into a human shaped construct of gleaming, silver, metallic spikes, that would look terrifying to a normal onlooker. _'Vhat is it?_' She mused internally. _'Perhaps it's some sort of Artificial Intelligence produced for a new kind of warfare. It's probably Japanese.'_ Her thoughts were dismissed when the robot opened it's razor sharp mouth and started to speak.

"You don't seem afraid. I was expecting you to at least run." His voice was rumbling and grated like a car engine in the wrong gear.

"Sorry to disappoint yoou, but I never do vhat's expected of me," She replied with a shrug. Begrudgingly, Barricade felt a twinge of admiration at this girl's nerve. She was handling herself fairly well so far, instead of screaming and fleeing like most squishy insects.

"The last human I transformed in front of tried to run from me," Barricade countered. Carefully leaving out the tiny detail that he had attempted to kill the human in question, after he wouldn't tell him where his ancestor's glasses were.

"I vill not. Besides, I do not fink I vould get very far if yoou decided to chase me." She replied shaking her head, before asking in genuine curiosity: "Vhat are yoou?"

Barricade opened his mouth, ready to tell her that it what he was, was none of her business and that she should be silent from now on while he spoke. But fortunately, the Decepticon caught himself just in time. Communication had never been his strong point. He preferred an interrogator's approach rather than a peaceful one.

"My name is Barricade. I am a technologically advanced robotic organism from the Planet Cybertron. But by an average human's understanding of universal matters such as yourself, I am simply known as an Alien." Barricade sneered at the girl fleshling unkindly. At least he was trying to be nice.

"Yoou' don't look like much of an Alien," Krauss responded with a small frown. Her mind was swimming with cartoonist images of green bug-eyed creatures from her old childhood comic books. The frown across the Cybertronian's face darkened at the insult.

"Forgive me for causing you such disappointment human. How shall I live with myself having caused you such offense?" Barricade growled back, in his best attempt at human sarcasm he could muster. "Your kind's knowledge of it's own world is limited and flawed. I should have estimated no different in this regards."

The girl paused for a moment to winch at the error of her own words. This thing could crush her like a twig, and she was aggravating it?

"Yoou've been on zhis planet for awhile huh?" She said in a quick change of topic.

"What concern is that to you?" He dodged the question suspiciously.

"Zhe vay yoou talk about uz as a race sounds... How you say? Bitter? Zhe point is, yoou just seem... irritated by your time spent here," She stated offhandedly. Barricade scowled down and continued:

"This conversation is not productive. When you agreed to come out here with me, I assumed that it was because you wanted to find out exactly what happened in Mission City, three months ago," the Decepticon grumbled irritably.

"Vell you already answered zhat question for me the moment yoou transformed in front of me," Krauss paused and licked her dry lips apprehensively. "It vas yoou vasn't it? You attacked Mission City." She declared accusingly. To her surprise, instead of getting angry and lashing out like she expected, the giant robot started to emit a strange, distant, roaring noise, that after some contemplation, Krauss recognized as laughter. The 18ft armored deathmachine, was actually laughing at her.

"You appear horribly misguided fleshling. I was not present during that particular battle, and bear no responsibility for the damage that City suffered. We did not deliberately attack Mission City; it was inevitable that any surrounding area would be demolished during our fight," Barricade said in obvious amusement.

"Vho vere yoou fighting? Uz? Houmans?" She inquired, ignoring the faint blush of embarrassment smoldering her pale cheeks.

"Some of your Kind were involved, yes; but that is of little importance. Our real enemies were the autobots." The decepticon stopped to see her puzzled reaction before continuing: "The autobots have been our enemies for aeons. Back on our homeworld of Cybertron, two warring factions rose up for leadership of our world. The Autobots and the Decepticons. We have been fighting for a millennia, and despite loosing great numbers of our soldiers, the war still goes on." Barricade was quickly getting bored and found his patience waning as the conversation progressed. Unfortunately, he knew that if he wanted that data he would have to satisfy this fleshie femme's curiosity first. _**I'd best not tell her that she's talking to the side of this war that will punish and enslave all of her kind, should we end up victorious. She might not like that idea at all.' **_Barricade chuckled at the thought.

"So it vas similar to a civil var?" Krauss asked, and upon the robot's confirming nod she lowered her head bitterly. "_Da_. Zhat sounds all too familiar."

Her mind flashed back to small living room on the first floor of the Russian Mansion where she had spent most of her childhood growing up in. The room had always been used for educational purposes, and it was there that she and her two elder brothers had been taught by faceless tutors who came and went quicker than the season. But one of these tutors, she remembered as Miss Slovak, had come to teach them of recent Russian History in the last 100 years, starting from the Bolshevik Revolution in 1906, all the way up to the end of Stalin's reign. These lessons of 'Bloody Sundays,' Winter Crop Famines, and Stalin's evil 'Purges' of his own people used to make her cry when she was 8 years old. Worst still, her spiteful 15 year old brother Yuri, often tormented her for weeks after by telling her that one day, Stalin's black vans might come to their house and steal her away in the night. She had nightmares for months after that, and had to sleep in Alexei's bed with him. Everytime She looked back now at the mass murder and terrible suffering her people had endured in those 60 years, and she would always think: All that started with a Civil war that was supposed to make life for their people better. How could it have gone so wrong?

All the while, Barricade watched Krauss' expressionless face intently. He had clearly said something to ponder over as she was no longer gazing at him, but at floor. Suddenly her head shot back up to meet his optics and she whispered softly:

"Vhy are yoou here then?"

"An... Artifact of ours was lost from our Planet many Deca-Cycles ago. It was our world's most precious treasure, and the Autobots blasted it off to float around in space to never to seen again. The Decepticon Leader, Lord Megatron went in pursuit of the artifact and consequently, both he and our relic crash landed onto your Earth over two hundred years before you were even born, We, the Decepticons he left behind, have been searching for them ever since." Barricade replied hastily.

"Did yoou find zhem?" Krauss asked, crossing her arms.

"We did. Only to lose them permanently this time. The Autobots used the Allsp-... Artifact against Megatron, destroying them both in the process. The battle in Mission City was our last chance to take back the relic from the autobots and their humans. So you can imagine how... Disappointed I was to find my fellow soldiers and leader terminated, and the Artifact reduced to nothing but dust," Barricade growled bitterly. He held no particular attachment to any of the Decepticons who perished during the battle; but his resentment over the Autobot's success made him hungry to avenge their deaths.

"Vhy are you telling me zhis?" Her question caught him off guard, so he fixed her with a puzzled stare.

"Explain fleshling. Your confusion does not compute," he responded irritably.

"It joust doesn't make sense. Vhat yoou're saying is so unbelievable, zhat even zhough I know you are telling me zhe truth." She gestured with her hand extended towards him, and waved it up and down. "You standing before me proves zhat. I can't help but wonder vhy yoou are giving avay your Entire Race's History too me: A Houman. Unless there vas something in it for yoou. Something you vant from me in return." Krauss summed up carefully, _**'Hn.'**_ Barricade thought mentally in Cybertronian._** 'She's tactical and thinks logically, I'll give her that. But she's still of limited fleshie intellect regardless.'**_

"What makes you think I wanted anything from a Fleshling?" Barricade spat, trying to hide his genuine interest with as much contempt as he could muster.

"Vell from vhat I can see, you look like somethin- _Someone_," She hurriedly corrected herself. "Someone who could crush me in less zhan a second."

"Oh it wouldn't even take that long," Barricade felt himself smirk at the messy visualization.

"Right. Zhat's good to know. Vhat i'm trying say is zhat; if yoou can do somfink like zhat, vouldn't it be easier to joust kill me and stop my investigation for good, instead of telling me everything I need to know?" She said frowning.

"Your observations are correct. You have something that belong to the Decepticons, and I want it back," Barricade snapped with a human imitation of a malicious grin. There was no need to pretend any longer. "I am fully aware that you have retrieved files of Cybertronian Origin from the American National Database. They are encoded into our language and have remained hidden from our sights until now." The Decepticon knelt down to her level and growled softly: "Hand them over now and I'll take my leave. Consider this my payment for the information I have shared with you." Krauss blinked at the request, but nonetheless, slipped a hand into her pocket to pull out the small USB Memory stick she had saved the data onto earlier. She looked up at the bipedal machine in front of her, then down again at the pen, as she considered her problem. If she gave him what he wanted, whose to say that he wouldn't still kill her as soon as she handed it over? There was no way he would let her live to tell the tale. Once the transaction was over, she was as good as dead. _'I need a plan. Quickly.'_ She thought, struggling to contain her growing panic.

"Before I give zhis to yoou. I fink yoou should know zhat I have one last request," Krauss murmured, twirling the USB pen between her fingers like a baton.

"A request?" Barricade almost snarled out of frustration. He knew she was stalling him; and he didn't like it.

"A deal," She explained keeping her face neutral, even when the dangerous robotic Alien hissed viciously at her suggestion.

"I do not make deal human. I make only ultimatums." He lowered himself further down, so that she was completely bathed in the glow of his blood red optics. "So don't test me fleshling."

"Look, joust hear me out. It couldn't do any harm." Krauss argued and resisted the urge to take a step back. To show fear now could jeopardize everything.

"You creatures talk too much," Barricade grumbled after a moment's consideration. He relaxed his position to sit back on his haunches. "You have two human minutes."

"It's simple. I'll hand over zhe data if..." She paused and bit her lip. There was only one way out of this alive, but she couldn't help but hesitate. Her other option seemed pretty pathetic in comparison, and basically consisted of: 'I'll give you whatever as long as you don't kill me.'

That idea would just boost this being's contempt for humanity if she begged for her life. But then again, Krauss wasn't really the begging kind. So with a steady breath, the Russian Teen finished the offer that could change her life forever:

"I'll hand it over, if yoou let me come vith you."

As soon as she'd said it, all grew deathly silent. Stunned, Barricade struggled for human words that would not come straight away to his processor.

"Are you defective?" He managed after the shock had taken it's toll.

"Excuse me?" She responded in astonished anger at being called 'defective.'

"You heard me human. You must be malfunctioning to even allow such a ridiculous idea into your mind. I want only the data without having to play any of your foolish games," Barricade huffed in outrage.

"It's not a joke. I vant yoou too take me with yoou. I can help yoou." Krauss reasoned coolly.

"Hn. What possible aid could you be to me? You are a hindrance, not an asset. You'll slow me down and your company will become tiresome. Do you think you can enlighten me otherwise?" Barricade scoffed at the girl who was now scowling up at him.

"Vell being human has some advantages. I can get into zhe places yoou can not. And judging from vhat I've seen so far, I'm a lot more socially inept than you are." She replied, trying to keep her tone casual.

"Your argument is weak and wastes my time," Barricade said airily. He waved a large mechanical hand in a dismissive fashion, as though to illustrate his point.

"Maybe so. But answer me zhis: Vhat exactly have you accomplished in zhe last few months since Mission City?" The quiet that descended between them, and the dark glares of intense dislike was all Krauss needed to continue: "So, you've done absolutely nothing since then? It looks like yoou've vasted enough of your own time vithout my aid."

Barricade roared in renewed fury and slammed both of his long, razor-edged arms down into the desert sands on either side of the human girl; causing the dust to rise up, and the ground to rumble from the impact. Krauss stumbled backwards in alarm and nearly toppled over from the sheer power his blows generated around her. Her smug look of victory vanished into fear as she wonder if she had pushed him too far. When the dust cleared, the Russian teen suppressed a small gasp when she saw the two identical huge craters left by the Decepticon's rage.

"You will do well to hold your tongue insect, or I will slice it from your mouth," Barricade hissed, struggling to prevent himself from ripping this impudent fleshling runt to shread. The insult stung to some extent; particularly when it came from a human. But the Decepticon knew if he killed her in such a brutal way, her unique injuries would alert the Autobots of his presence, and he would be hunted down like every one of his other comrades. The sensible and untraceable approach, would be to leave her in the wilderness, to let the excessively hot climate and lack of fresh water finish her off.

"_Eez-vee-née-tye_. I vent too far vith zhat. Since yoou vere honest vith me, I'll return the favour." Her reply surprised him. Barricade had not expected her to speak again; especially after he had just terrified and threatened her. And yet, her tone was full of calm, patience, and remorse. "If you do not kill me tonight, and for vhatever reason, spare my life; I vill still have to report back to my _Brat's_ American home, and tell him everything I have learnt."

"I fink you know as vell as I do zhat he vill not believe me. No one vill believe me. I will be dishonored in the eyes of my family and my country. Zhey vill abandon me. Exile me for my failure." The Russian girl took a step forward to close the distance between her and the Decepticon. From this distance, Barricade noticed and focused on her facial features, that he found to be irrelevant and no different to every other fleshbag on this planet. Her hair that had been wet and oil black the previous night, was now shoulder-length, dirt brown and slightly wavy. Her face was thin and pointed with high cheek bones, and unsmiling pink lips. Bruises stood out dark purple from last night's violent events in contrast to the taunt, snow-white, skin they were imprinted upon. Finally he reached her eyes; they were narrowed like his own, and coloured deep, inky indigo, reminding the 'con of a maelstrom brewing beneath the surface of black thunder clouds.

"My family needs proof, and even if you vere villing to give it, you'd either be captured or running for the rest of your life. But without that proof, I can not go home back to _Moskva._ Failure is not an option for me right now. If I don't succeed, then I am to stay in zhis country vith my _Brat_ until zhe time of my death." Krauss said icily, her tone tinged with desperation. At Barricade's lack of response, she continued: "I don't vant to return to zhat house if I have no chance of going home. I refuse to be trapped and humiliated in Yuri's company for as long as he wants me to live."

"What makes you think my company will be more preferable? How like a human to throw herself onto any chance she gets to escape her own reality." Barricade countered spitefully.

"I never said being with you vould be any better. As far as I can tell, I'm a lot more likely to meet a much more gruesome end traveling vith you than vith my brother. But as it stands, I'm dead either way. Between you and him, I've already made my choice. Now are you going to make yours?" Krauss announced and gave Barricade an expectant look; waiting for his reply. It was true. All though she had no concrete evidence that Yuri would kill her for her failure, her so-called brother was indeed the sort of person to try it. The Decepticon scout considered her words; mulling the offer around his CPU.

_**'If nothing else, I suppose she'll make an efficient Meat shield against the Autobots. They wouldn't dare attack knowing that I had one of their precious fleshlings with me,'**_ the Saleen muttered to himself in Cybertronian as he weighted the benefits of traveling with the squishy femme alongside the flaws.

"What will you do if I refuse?" Barricade inquired cynically.

"Yoou von't refuse. Especially if I just so happen to forward this entire conversation to every US Parliamentary and Military database in _Amerika_; making you _moy droog_, zhis Country's most Vanted Extra Terrestrial," She answered nonchalantly, as she pulled out the same battered mobile phone Barricade had seen twice before. It had been recording everything. Barricade cursed his malfunctioning system from the bottom of his spark for not scanning this earlier. First it hacks into this human's audio interaction with her brother of it's own accord; and now it fails to alert him that the little fleshie was saving every piece of information he had revealed in order to exploit him.

"You dare threaten me? I could slice you into ribbons where you stand," Barricade growled and extended a clawed hand towards her to empathize how serious he was.

"Maybe. But let's see vho's faster. You or Me?" Krauss placed a thumb lightly over the 'send' button and looked up at the decepticon grimly. "Your Move."

Like Gunslingers, they glared unblinkingly at each other, still as statutes; just waiting to see who will make the first move. _**'Lousy little vindictive fleshbag!**_' he snarled to himself. _**'Pity. If she had not being human, she might have made a decent Decepticon.'**_ Barricade tensed as though preparing to swipe the girl with his outstretched servo. So nothing could have shocked Krauss more, than when the powerful claw slowly retreated away from her and returned to the Robotic giant's side. She gave him a puzzled look, but sensing a trap, she did not lower her own arm.

"You are a reckless; scheming; manipulative; and disrespectful to your superiors. I would love to crush you into pulp for your little blackmail attempt. To snap your bones into splinters for even thinking that you as an inferior lifeform could ever outsmart me. Therefore, you leave me no other choice." Barricade rumbled dangerously. Krauss continued to look ahead resolute, holding her phone aloof.

"What skills do you have to offer me?" Barricade sighed wearily, ruining the anti-climatic build up. Krauss blinked several times.

_"Chto?" _She chocked put, feeling the adrenaline rushed out of her body.

"Are your audio receptors fizzing out human? I said what skills have you that I might require? If I am to take you with me, I'm going to need to know if you will be of any use to me. But should I find you to be inadequate, I will take my data and leave whether or not you decide to inform your superiors," the Decepticon stated haughtily. Krauss thought for a moment before replying:

"I can Hack. It's somefink I have been doing since I vas a child, so I should be good enough at it by now."

"Ha. Decepticons could perform such feats when they were Sparklings. Tell me, how fast do you think you could break the security firewalls protecting the US database?" Barricade sneered condescendingly.

"I don't break firevalls, zhat's too easy to trace back to my location, as vell as alerting national security of a hacker in zhe system. I vork around zhe blocks, destroying zhem only vhen I have too. I prefer to avoid detection" Krauss said, dodging the question.

"I see. And how long does this process take?" Barricade asked skeptically. Feeling trapped, the Russian answered reluctantly:

"One hour maximum," she murmured softly.

"Mediocre. Perhaps quite impressive by human standards, but barely of average ability in the optics of our kind. My former partner Frenzy, could have achieved that within a few nano-clicks. A shame he no longer functions; were he still here I would have no need for you." Barricade huffed before reverting back into his alt-form and opening the passenger door for Krauss to climb in.

The Russian frowned in confusion. "_Eez-vee-née-tye_, but does zhis mean yoou vant me to come vith yoou or not?" The holographic officer that had just materialized, glared through the window at her question.

"I assure you human, that you are the last creature I 'want' to accompany me. But as it stands, Frenzy is dead and my skills of breaching secure networks to obtain confidential data is somewhat limited. My field of expertise lies in reconnaissance and scouting, not decoding stolen files; so however slow and impractical your methods are, the fact remains that you possess what I lack. Now get in and insert the data you already have into my system." Barricade grumbled resentfully as his holoform tapped the steering wheel in anticipation. Krauss almost smiled in success, but remembering that she shouldn't look too eager, she nodded her head in gratitude and soundlessly slipped into the cool leather seat on offer. As soon as she was settled, the car door automatically closed with a bang followed by the click of interior locks, sealing her within the vehicle.

"Iz zhat really necessary?" The Russian Teen frowned at the hologram beside.

"Precaution are essential," Barricade responded shortly through the car speakers. Krauss could only sit and watch as the holographical police officer leaned forwards and pressed a small blue button on the radio unit. It glowed briefly and disappeared into its plastic surroundings, which started to ripple into a silvery liquid substance and solidify over the dashboard. After a few minutes, everything in front of Krauss had been replaced with, what looked like, a large, extremely advanced computer system, complete with a pale blue screen, fully operational and awaiting commands.

"Put the data in here. I'll process it from there," Barricade ordered as his holoform pointed out a small hole electronic, identical to a USB port. Obediently, Krauss pulled out the memory stick in her pocket and shoved it into where he had gestured. Almost instantly, the same strange symbols she had come across on the laptop back in her apartment, shot up on the screen; and were been scanned rapidly by the robotic creature she was inside of.

"Hmmm." Barricade mused as he circulated the information around his processors. Some of the files were common knowledge amongst both Autobots and Decepticons at this point, such as Sector 7, N.E.B.1, Project Iceman, etc. But the rest contained locations to various worldwide Sector 7 bases; detailed research on the Allspark and its remaining fragment, that the humans hid away straight after its destruction. And perhaps most importantly of all: The creation of a new military alliance between the Autobots and humans known as NEST. Formed in order to combat any further Decepticon threats. _**'That could be problematic,'**_ the Saleen thought mentally as he retracted his computerized system back into the dashboard, ignoring the human girl's observing eyes fixated upon him.

"Alright fleshling, here are the ground rules of you're determined to stay: You will not speak unless spoken to. You will follow any order I might give without question or complaint, no matter how unreasonable it might seem. You will be required to fulfill all of Frenzy's assignments, including the Hackery. You will maintain both my technological and mechanical needs; from clean sweeps of my internal system, to repairing malfunctions of my alt-form-"

"But I don't know anything about mechanics and engineering," Krauss protested bluntly.

"Learn." Was the cold reply before continuing his interrupted list of demands. "I will not cater to your human whims and desires. If you want something like nutrition, you are to get it yourself. Disobey me, and I'll kill you. Slow me down, and I'll kill you. Get in my way or argue with me, and I'll kill you. Try to run from me, and I'll-"

"Let me guess; you'll kill me, _da?_" Krauss asked with biting sarcasm.

"Talk back to me like again, and I won't just kill you: I'll torture you first," Barricade promised sinisterly. "Any questions?"

"Joust one. Vhat do I call you?" She inquired curiously.

"My designation is Barricade, but only my superior officers and equals call me that. You may refer to me as 'Sir,' for the duration of our time together," he responded, enjoying the visible flinch she made at the idea of calling him 'Sir.' "Do you understand?"

"Yes... Zir," She spat out the words with as much venom as she could muster, before turning away from his holoform to stare out the window. Satisfied, Barricade began to drive back towards the City they had left many hours ago.

"_Menya zavout Krauss,_ by zhe vay," the Russian teen mumbled loud enough for Barricade to hear over the hum of his engine after a few minutes into their journey back. Naturally, the Decepticon ignored this piece of personal information about his new partner, and continued in absolute silence.

**************TBC***************

Russian Word Meanings:-

_Eez-vee-née-tye - I'm Sorry_

_Da - Yes_

_Brat - Brother_

_Amerika - America_

_Moskva - Moscow_

_Moy droog - My friend_

_Chto? - What?_

_Menya zavout Krauss - My Name is Krauss_


	5. CH 5: A LoveHate Relationship

**The Forgotten Scout**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. But I do own the rights to my OC: Natalya Krauss.**

_**'Blah' Cybertronian**_

_'Blah' Russian and thinking_

' Blah' General talking and narration

***********************NC******************************

**Chapter 5**: A Love-Hate Relationship.

"Are you almost finished fleshling? I grow impatient." The question came from the holographic form of a police officer reclining across the bonnet of a Saleen Police Cruiser, resting on his elbows. Despite the relaxed posture, his tone was clipped and full of irritation.

"I'll be done vhen I'm done." The reply was drawled from underneath the car where two pale, scrawny legs surrounded by wrenches, were peeking out. Barricade's holoform frowned and slid off the hood of his alt-form, and walk over to his companion was lying. With surprising quickness, the Decepticon solidified his human form; seized one of the ankles poking out; and easily yanked his Russian 'partner' from under the bonnet.

She gave a small cry as she was tugged in the light of the large abandoned garage they had been using for two weeks now as a base. Covered in oil and black grease, Krauss looked almost scary as she glared up in annoyance at the transformer's holoform.

"How long does it take most humans to perform a simple maintenance check?" Barricade asked crossing his arms to better show his aggravation.

"Do yoou have any idea how hard it is to see vhat I'm doing vhen your entire engine is filthy?" Krauss shot back venomously as she stood up and pushed past him to make her way towards a rundown work bench, where a large book entitled: "Mechanics for Idiots. Russian Translation." was balanced.

"Isn't it amongst one of your duties to ensure I don't accumulate rust and dirt?" The holographic officer retorted snidely.

"I am **Not** your Slave!" She snapped back before reaching for the stained red cloth she often used to wipe the black smudges from her face.

"But you did agree to perform any task I asked of you if you were to stay with me," Barricade countered feeling victorious when she fired a very dirty look in his direction. "Enough of this. Did you locate the problem?"

"Yes. Just sand still stuck in your carburetors from vhen yoou got lost in Texas," she replied smugly recalling the memory to mind as she finished cleaning her hands and opened the large book in front of her. Obviously, he blamed her that little 'detour.'

"You where supposed to fix that as well," Barricade grumbled in a foreboding tone. Krauss glanced up from the page she was trying to read and smirked.

"Fix Vhat? Your bad sense of direction?" She said coyly. A hiss came from the both the vehicle and it's holographic driver.

"Listen Insect. I have told you on seventeen previous occasions, that my directional skills are in prefect condition. And if SOMEONE were to do the job that I allow them to live for, then my satellite navigation system would be fully operational." He retorted in an exasperated tone.

"Vell I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Sat-Nav's are designed to get zhe driver lost," Krauss shrugged, making Barricade stare at her in something that closely human surprise.

"You mean to tell me that all human navigation-based technology has the strange desire to direct me to Uganda?" Barricade barked sharply.

"Be grateful it has not yet told you zhat zhe Hudson River vas a freeway," she answered flippantly.

"I do not understand you humans at all. Why create things that will malfunction in time?" The decepticon asked in genuine confusion.

"It'z all part of the oouman experience. Ve make mistakes, and ve live and learn," Her eyes were already glued to the pages of her auto-mechaniacs book, completely ignoring Barricade's hologram.

"Tch," Barricade snorted before wrenching the book out of the Russian's fingers.

"Oi!" Krauss exclaimed in some surprise, fixing the Decepticon with a glare.

"Get back to work human!" he snapped. Her attitude was slowly grating on his last nerve.

"My name iz Krauss! Not ooman! Not Squishy! Not Fleshling! And certainly not Insect!" She spat back, standing up to meet his challenge. With an animalistic snarl, the Decepticon's hologram seized the Russian girl by her neck and slammed her against the wall behind her. Barricade held her up as effortlessly as if she weighed nothing at all and applied the smallest amount of pressure he could without crushing her windpipe.

"Why do I keep you around? Give me a reason I tolerate your presence. Your life may depend on your answer fleshie," Barricade hissed through clenched teeth. Krauss regarded him calmly. She'd been in this position enough times to know that struggling would lose valuable oxygen, and that relaxing your body would allow you to breath much more easily.

"You vould have killed me... Two veeks ago if you didn't... need me," She said in a hoarse whisper. Her vision was starting to blur with unshed tears so she couldn't see his face. Fortunately, the Russian heard a weary growl, and the pressure around her throat disappeared causing her to hit the floor with a loud smack.

"You are correct. But the next time you over step your boundaries human, I get to cut out that annoying piece of flesh you called a tongue. Are we clear?" Barricade asked coldly.

"Crystal," was the reply she managed to cough out. Krauss no longer worried about these little outbursts from her so-called partner. It was painfully obvious that he was holding back his true strength. Even in Holo-form, if Barricade so desired it, he could have kill her instantly many times during their travels. It was almost reassuring to know that these moments were mere 'warnings' of the Decepticon's true capabilities, and that he had plenty of self-disapline not to go crazy and accidently murder her in the heat of the moment.

The Russian rubbed her neck to sooth the already bruising skin as she watched Barricade turn away from her and resume his position on the bonnet of his alt-form. For several moments neither of them moved, except only to look into each other's eyes and engage in another glaring contest the pair seem so fond of these days. Finally, barricade spoke. This time without anger.

"I believe that's one to me insect," he said nonchalantly. Krauss blinked upon realizing what he was referring to.

"I vought you told me not to keep score?" She asked with a frown.

"Yet you do regardless. I allow it because it amuses me when you start to lose," the 'con sneered in response.

"Ditto," she muttered under her breath.

"Well? How are we doing?" he asked, surprising Krauss with his interest in their secondary 'game.'

"DECEPTICON: 7. HUMAN: 5," she sighed as she watched her companion's face twist with a self-righteous smirk. It was a temporary victory and krauss was keen to knock him down a place or two. Their 'game' had began almost instantly with the very night they met. Krauss had considered her idea of blackmailing the decepticon so effective that she started to tally these triumphs into a score board. Unfortunately, she had to be fair and add up Barricade's as well whenever he was victorious in an argument.

That first night, the score had being DECEPTICON: 0. HUMAN: 1. That had being three weeks ago and the evil giant robot claimed his first win only two nights later. They had being driving around god-knows-where, looking for a hidden location to crash for the night. Krauss didn't really remember much of the day's events, all she knew was that she was cold, hungry, and irritable.

"How much further?" She had asked her holographic companion getting only silence as a response. With her bad mood starting to rise, the russian girl dug into her jacket pocket to retrieve to the packet of cigarettes she bought from a passing gas station. Skillfully pulling one out of the pack with her teeth, she flicked open her personal lighter and lit the end, taking in a deep drag with a sigh of pleasure.

Without warning, the Saleen slammed on the brake causing Krauss to rocket forward, saved painfully by the snap of her seltbelt; only to be flung backwards smacking her head on the head-rest.

"Vhat da Fuck!" She heard herself scream and clutched her throbbing head. She stared up at Barricade who looked, for lack of a better word, extremely pissed off.

"I could ask you the same question!" He snarled back.

"Vhat is your problem? Did you do zhat on purpose?" She snapped, still nursing her head.

"I will not tolerate the pollution of my interior!" Was the indignant reply from the hologram beside her, who ripped the freshly-lit cigarette from between her lips and threw it out of the window he had just opened. Krauss took a moment to compose herself before answering bitterly:

"Zhat _sigareta_ alone cost me two America dollars, you could have let me smoke outside if it bothers you zo much."

"You are pushing my endurance of you too far, human." He growled as he restarted his Alt-form to continue driving. The atmosphere was stagnant with animosity between the two until Krauss decided to speak once more and add to the tension.

"So vill yoou be pulling over anytime soon to let me smoke or not?" The Russian teenager asked casually, not bothering to look at the hologram beside her but knowing full well he was gnashing his teeth. The Saleen didn't reply, and yet answered her question by clicking the door-locks down and tighten the seat-belt peevishly around her small frame.

"I zee." She nodded and slumped backwards in her chair. _'DECEPTICON: 1 HUMAN: 1. But zhis isn't over,_' she thought, bitterly folding her arms.

Less than a day later, Krauss left the 'safety' of Barricade's interior to steal him some fuel. He had requested Oil if possible, but Gasoline would do as well. When she returned pushing a shopping cart containing a gigantic barrel of oil, Barricade first observation was of the familiar white stick of smoky goodness sticking out from between her lips. Hissing in displeasure, the Decepticon materialized his hologram to confront her.

"Barely a day and already you defy me. Weren't you listening to me yesterday or do you just enjoy being disobedient?" the Hologram snapped.

"Da, I vas listening. Yoou told me that I should not 'pal-loot' your system, so I'm smoke outside your system," She took a long drag of her cigarette during her explanation and walked away from the angry hologram to lean against the nearest wall. There she would be out of the Decepticon's way while he transformed and consumed his oil in the small empty garage there were currently hiding in.

HUMAN: 2 DECEPTICON: 1

Barricade saw the twitch of a smirk flicker across the human girl's face and had to mentally retrain his temper and retaliation. This was a game she was playing nothing more. Albeit a very dangerous game, but one the Decepticon was quite willing to play. Begrudgingly, Barricade transformed into his bi-pedalled form and snatched up the oil drum, all the while thinking of how far could he push his human companion in this ridiculous game of hers.

The answer came to him when he heard the pitter-patter of heavy rain on the roof overhead. After finishing his oil, Barricade returned to his Alt-form form and drove outside, but not before barking at the Russian to hurry up and follow him outside just as she was lighting a fresh cigarette.

"You have exactly one minute before I drive off without you," he grumbled as he left the shelter of the garage and reversed into the downpour outside. Krauss came running after him barely a minute later, still with half a cigarette left to smoke. The rain soaked her to the bone in less than three seconds flat by the time she got to the Saleen and made to open the passenger door.

To her utter astonishment, Barricade locked all his car doors and turned the volume up on his radio to block out the sounds of her banging on his windscreen. The glass was made from the finest, reinforced materials Cybertron had to often, so he wasn't concerned about her puny fleshy fists doing much damage to his exterior. Instead, he activated his hologram and gave the furious Russian girl a very elaborate display of relaxing back into the leather of seat; turning up the AC to maximum heat and giving Krauss the occasional smirk.

Upset at being so openly mocked by the Decepticon, the Russian teen ripped the cigarette from her mouth and threw it on the floor to be extinguished by her heel. Still her robotic partner refused to open any of the doors. Eventually, after much banging and swearing in Russian, Barricade relented slightly and opened a window. Warm air from the radiator smacked the girl in the face with it's intense waves making her dizzy as the Decepticon spoke to her.

"You may have ceased smoking but now I don't want you getting water in my interior," Barricade informed her condescendingly.

"Zhen Vhat should I be doing? Ve need to leave now, yes?" She retorted. A loud click was his response and she eagerly made to open the door.

"I didn't unlock the doors," the Saleen chuckled more to himself than her. Krauss frowned and looked over at what he had opened for her. Barricade watched as her teeth gritted unconsciously like they always did when she was angry and she shot him a furious glare.

"I am NOT going in zhere!" She snapped at the hologram through the window. Barricade glared back. He was really starting to dislike this girl on a much more personal level now.

"You don't have much of a choice human. It's either get in the Trunk or walking to our next destination," he replied coldly. But to his surprise, the Russian teen span around on her heels and started marching in the direction they were meant to be going. _'She's actually going to try to walk. Of all the flesh creatures on this entire planet, I had to be stuck with a dysfunctional one,'_ Barricade said to himself in his thought processor.

After giving her a head-start, the 'Con eventually caught up with her and unlocked the passenger door beside her; but not before demanding an apology for her behaviour. She stopped to study him for a minute or two in the freezing rain not saying a word, just glaring. Until finally she mumbled a reluctant apology and opened the door on offer to step inside the warmth. No words were exchanged after that, and their game for the day, ended in a draw on both sides.

DECEPTICON: 2 HUMAN: 2

From that point onward, Krauss became very secrecy about her smoking addiction and made sure not to give Barricade a reason to leave her out in a heavy downpour again. But their disagreements didn't end there.

Music became a frequent point of argument when Krauss made the mistake of turning on Barricade's radio when she became bored with the never-ending silence. Needless to say, the Decepticon reacted badly and immediately turned off the Heavy Rock channel she had found. The next five minutes was spent turning off and on the radio repeatedly until the Russian finally stopped when a huge metallic claw emerged out of the speakers and nearly took her hand off if she hadn't jerked back so quickly. And so the Radio remained untouched for the rest of their two weeks together and Krauss had to resort to listening to her MP3 player instead.

DECEPTICON: 3 HUMAN: 2

"I can not believe how lacking in creative yoou are," the Russian declared during the the end of the first week while she was examining Barricade's mainframe.

"What are you babbling about now? More human nonsense?" Barricade replied with the twist of a sneer in his voice.

"I'm joust looking at data of your hologram. It's a copy of another copy," She clarified making the Decepticon suddenly understand what she was referring to.

"The data was given to me by Blackout and shared amongst the rest of the Decepticons."

"Blackout?" She looked up from her work.

"That's none of your concern fleshling," he growled back.

"Fine. But zhis point is you all have same houman holograph?" She said carelessly.

"What of it?" He asked guardedly.

"You are not blending in so well if you all have same driver. Very suspicious, your enemies know what you all look like," She continued.

"They know us by our vehicle mode, not a hologram," he snapped back, incredulous at her stupidity.

"True. But vhat about houman allies? Would they not want to be seeing hologram driver before looking at car?" She asked, ignoring his tone of voice. "Aside from zhat, I don't think your hologram is any good."

"What?" He said both in genuine confusion and as a growled threat.

"It looks not like you. Doesn't show your _individual'nost'_."

"Why should it? It's a disguise nothing more! Why would I want to spend time and effort creating one to resemble my true nature?" Barricade found himself once again infuriated with his companion.

"You spent zhat time and effort decorating vehicle form. Why not hologram?" She asked curiously. For once, Barricade had no answer. She was speaking quite logical and the Decepticon found himself physically unable to think up an excuse.

So at the current moment in time, about a week after in that small garage where Barricade's holo-form was leaning against the bonnet of his vehicle mode, he was no longer sporting the classic 'mustache-man' form that all the Decepticons had downloaded as they entered Earth's atmosphere in search of a vehicle to copy. Instead he was now dressed in human flesh that he might have been proud to wear if he did have any such sentiments about humans. His once pale skin was now a dark golden tan, with the black ink of his vehicle No. '643' tattooed around his left biscep. His face was shaped with the angles of a high cheekbone, pointed chin and a slow creeping smirk that held behind it a grin of razor sharp teeth. He gave his eyes their menacing ruby-red color but kept them behind a pair of black sunglasses that he liked to glare over the top of whenever she was doing something wrong or asking a question. The shards of cold metal that stuck out the top of his head and along, -what Krauss assumed was his chin,- had now being redesigned as spiky jet-black hair and a finely trimmed soul patch goatee that ran into a triangular point down his lower jaw.

A small silver barbell was pierced through the hologram's right eyebrow, which at first the Russian had thought was odd. She found it hard to believe that the Decepticon had a fondness for jewelry, and only later realized that Barricade had a scar in the exact same place on his true Bi-pedaled form; one she had once offered to buff out but was rudely declined. That aside, Barricade still wore his official Police attire, but now with a more casual feel by rolling up the sleeves of his jacket and leaving it untucked and unbuttoned. And finally, beneath his white shirt, if Krauss looked hard enough through the material, she could just make out the dark brand of the Decepticon emblem on the left side of his chest.

HUMAN: 3 DECEPTICON: 3

However reluctant Barricade may have been in his 'new look,' the Russian took a great deal of pride in convincing him otherwise, and in return the Decepticon developed a great deal of further hatred towards the human girl.

Another thing that infuriated the Saleen about Krauss was her blatant lack of respect towards him. Sure knew when to kept her mouth shut and her head down during Barricade's bad moods, but most of the time she didn't really acknowledge him with anything close to humility.

At the beginning of their partnership, the Decepticon had insisted on being referred to as 'Sir' and would not allow her to use his designation in an attempt to set parameters on their working relationship. Since then, the Russian teen retaliated and preferred to get his attention with 'Hey. You!' The closest he had ever got to his ideal title was 'Boss,' which Barricade found to casual to his liking. On the day he confronted her about her about her behaviour she simply turned to him and said:

"I am not here to be a servant. Besides, you don't call me by name. You have no respect for me, vhy should I for you?"

HUMAN: 4 DECEPTICON: 3

This was perhaps their most easily resolved argument to date. Others didn't end so well. At the very beginning of their first week, Krauss decided to venture into unknown territory of Barricade's patience.

"Vhen do we stop at a Motel?" she asked after a long drive to where ever the Hell Barricade was taking them; it wasn't as if he told her anything of his plans in advance. All she really knew was that the Decepticon had given up stalking around Mission City and was back on the road again, determined to never stay in one place too long from now on.

"We're not."

"Fine zhen. When do_ I_ stop at a Motel?" She re-worded with a sigh.

"You misunderstand me human. I'm not stopping unnecessarily when you desire it," he responded coldly.

"Unnecessa-? Zhis is not about vhat I desire! It's what I need! Houmans need to bathe, eat, sleep and use a bathroom! Vhat do you expect me to do?" Krauss glared at the dashboard.

"Don't the refueling stops accommodate all of those needs?" Barricade asked in a tone of both annoyance and curiosity.

"You mean Gas stations? Are you serious? Is this some sort of cruel American humour you have picked up during your wandering, or something else?" Krauss' narrow eyes actually widened at the implication.

"What's wrong? Not good enough for you fleshling?" Now he was definitely laughing at her.

"Where vould I sleep?"

"Frenzy once confirmed that the back-seats were quite comfortable. Although he didn't have delicate human skin, so maybe you won't find it as enjoyable," Barricade mused, completely disregarding the girl's horrified expression next to him.

"_Nyet_! Absolutely not! I refuse living like an animal!" Krauss finally snapped.

Barricade was confused by her objections. Sure he was being harsh, but did the human not realise how lucky she was. "Animal? Many of your kind live in much worse conditions and will die as a result. You think this is degradation? Or are you just blind to the rest of your people's struggle for survival?"

"Hah! Empathy from a Robot zhat vould rather see Humanity dead? Are you sure you chose right side of War? Or are you joust going soft?" She was the one laughing now, but it came to an abrupt halt when a metallic claw shot out of the dashboard and grabbed her mouth, smothering her laughter. The driver beside her wasn't even looking at her but she saw the hands on the wheel turn white from clenching his fists around it.

"Never say anything like that again, or else the next time you do; I will break your Jawbone." He said, barely controlling his anger at what she just said to him. The claw gave her the lower half of her face a meaningful tug before letting go. She nodded, slightly bewildered, but also impressed. Had she insulted her brother Yuri so severely, she shuddered to think what he would have done to her. But here was this powerful creature who could kill her without any hesitation, but instead chose to hold back every ounce of that power to give her a scolding? It didn't make sense, but she wasn't complaining.

DECEPTICON: 4 HUMAN: 4

Unfortunately, the 'Motel Argument' was not yet resolved, nor was Krauss' desire for a little payback. It was during a simple inspection of Barricade's mainframe, when the idea for revenge hit the Russian like a ton of bricks. She was deleting a few bugs in the system that Barricade's self repairs and updates had not detected. Nothing too major, and for Krauss it was quite boring way to spend an afternoon. It was during this examination that she realized that with the constant flow of data Barricade was now receiving, his concentration was focused completely on the task at hand. In other words, he would be oblivious to anything Krauss could do to his mainframe, or at least pass it off as part of the clean-up process.

The Russian wasted no time and her fingers flew across the laptop connected to the Decepticon's CPU. She delved into the 'Con's data, making sure to continue the clean-up to avoid suspicion. She marveled at the vast size of Barricade's Internal Drive as thousands of words that Barricade had once told her was called 'Cybertronian,' flew across the screen. Luckily for Krauss, she knew exactly what she wanted and soon found the connection she had being looking for. She paused, unsure of whether she should severe the link or simply block it's signal; in the end, she didn't want to cause the Decepticon permanent damage and decided to just block it.

As soon as she had finished, the Hologram beside her stirred from his trance and frowned in bewilderment. No doubt he had sensed the change to his system, but whether or not he would be able to identity it Krauss didn't know; all she could do was watch him with bated breath.

After what seemed like an eternity, the confusion left the hologram's features and he looked over sharply at his human companion. The Russian felt the blood in her body freeze with his icy glare.

"What are you looking at fleshling? You have a job to do," he snapped before reclining back in his seat. It took every ounce of Krauss' willpower not to breath out in relief as she turned back to her laptop screen, knowing full well she had escaped the Decepticon's retribution.

HUMAN: 5 DECEPTICON: 4

Or rather delayed it for five hours. Which was exactly how long it took before Barricade realized that something was wrong.

"WHAT THE SLAG HAVE YOU DONE TO ME YOU CONNIVING SCRAP OF HUMAN FLESH!" The hologram of Barricade screamed as he reached out to grab hold of Krauss in the passenger seat. Fortunately, the Russian had been anticipating this reaction and immediately shot out of the car door and ran for whatever cover she could find in the Junkyard they had shortly arrived in.

During the five hours while Barricade had still being blissfully unaware of the Russian's idea of a prank; conversation between the two had turned to salvaging spare car parts just in case the Decepticon ever sustained such severe damage that he needed replacements quickly. A car junkyard nearby was located by the human girl's map searching and upon making it inside the compound did Barricade realize exactly what Krauss had done to him.

"YOU! What have you done? You! You disabled my Bi-ped functions! I- I CAN'T TRANSFORM! YOU ARE DEAD SQUISHY!" The inhuman, feral look on what was supposed to be the composed Police officer hologram, suddenly alerted Krauss of how bad her idea was. She only wanted to teach him a lesson not destroy his grip on his sanity.

With Barricade unable to transform into the towering human-crushing mech he once was, the Russian thought for a split second that they were on even ground now and that she might actually have a chance. All such thought abruptly came to a halt when she heard the loud bang of a pistol shot and the dull thud as the bullet struck the body of one of the many car.

"_O Trahnites_'. I forgot that his hologram carried guns too," She swore to herself before sprinting from her cover to find a better position that would defend her from the rampaging 'Con searching for her.

"COME OUT AND FACE ME HUMAN!" Krauss heard him shout but didn't turn back. Instead she spotted a shed and dashed towards it to peer through the dirty window. It looked like the shed was being used as an office, and to her relief she saw a shotgun on a shelf inside. The door was locked a massive padlock so she didn't hesitated to pull and pin from her hair and start to pick it carefully.

A heavy growling sound from behind her caused the Russian teen to stop dead and slowly turn around to face the music. She was expecting Barricade's hologram, with his eyes blazing and the pistol aimed at her face; so when she saw the vicious white teeth of three massive Rottweilers surrounding her and closing in to their prey. Krauss cursed under her breath; all the commotion had obviously alerted the guard-dogs and now they wanted blood. The Russian stayed calm and controlled her breathing to a steady rate, but it was useless to even try. No doubt the dogs could smell her adrenaline from all the running she had done and it was making them go crazy with excitement. Finally, the largest of the group sprinted forward and lunged towards her unprotected neck. For a split-second, The teenage girl's mind went blank before an ear-shattering bang brought her to her sense.

The dog lay on the floor whimpering pitifully as it's black blood spread across the churned up dust. Upon hearing the noise, the two other hounds scampered off in a panic and yelping as they went. Krauss breathed out slowly and turned the left to see her saviour. With his teeth gritted, Barricade had not yet lowered his smoking gun. Instead he turned his attention away from the dying animal at his feet and rounded on the human girl, aiming the pistol directly at her forehead.

"I just saved your life, human. Again." He took a step forward bringing the scorching hot barrel end far too close Krauss' flesh.

"I guess I should Thank-" She began, but was cut off when Barricade's arm jerked to the right and fired right beside her ear. Krauss closed her mouth taking the hint.

"I don't want your pathetic attempts at gratitude human. Your kind never truly mean their appreciation. What I do want is for you to fix what you've done to my internal system. And if you're unable to do so then I really will have not further use for you." She heard the clicked of the safety catch being released to empathize his threat. "Understand?" As soon as she had nodded her yes, he grabbed her by the collar and pushed her towards the Saleen. At this point, she couldn't be bothered to resist or complain at his rough treatment. She was still shaken up by the near death attack of the dog trio and almost collapsed into the passenger seat when they made it back to Barricade's alt-form.

DECEPTICON: 5 HUMAN: 5

It didn't take long to re-online Barricade's connection between his Alternate and Bi-pedalled forms. Satisfied with this, the Decepticon and his human cargo left the Junkyard without any spare parts and retreated, to Krauss' surprise, to a Motel on the outskirts of town. He didn't speak to her again until she had paid for a night's stay and they were both inside room. The hologram paused to lock the door behind them and removed his sunglasses. The 'Con's blood red eyes pierced Krauss with a cold stare before he began to speak.

"Are you afraid?" He asked her in a calm tone.

"You tell me." His eyes never left her face as his nose flared to sniff the air.

"I can smell your fear. But it is not fear of me. You were afraid of the Dog," he continued unblinkingly gazing at the girl. "Why?"

"I vas attacked once as a child. It was taller than me zhen and it vas only nipping at my arm, but I panicked and hit it on zhe nose. So it bit me hard and vouldn't let go until it's master pulled it off," She explained, now feeling slightly better after the incident.

"I see. Your fear is psychologically deep-rooted by a former traumatic event in your life," Barricade inclined his head slightly as if to show he understood. "Then let me ask you another question; Why do you show neither fear nor respect towards me when I am far more capable of doing greater harm to you than a bite on your limbs?" His tone darkened, but Krauss still did not feel particular scared and to prove it she answered his question honestly.

"Because yoou've done nothing to me that vould make me fear or respect yoou." At this, Barricade blinked and ended their little staring contest. The Decepticon turned away and began searching amongst the luggage he had ordered her to bring in from the Saleen. Various briefcases that had been hidden in compartments she'd never noticed before. Her own belonging containing clothes, Wallet, and her laptop computer sat nearby in a duffel bag. The Russian watched as Barricade, clearly found whatever he was looking for and straighten to full height . She tried to see what was clasped in his left hand but couldn't make it out properly as he started to close in on her.

"I understand. Your obedience must be ensured by more than idle threats. I have to act now or else you'll pull another stunt like that again, and jeopardize both our lives," His voice was so calm despite his angry demeanor that Krauss was concerned that he'd actually snapped.

"Vhat vill you do?" She unconsciously asked as he advanced and suddenly stopped short in front of her.

"Come here girl," he beckoned with his empty hand. Krauss' eyes charted the room and evaluated her chances. Barricade not only had the key to the front door, but also still had his guns on his belt. She could always try and run towards the bathroom, but with the Decepticon's speed and strength as a human being so much better than hers, she stood little chance of escape.

And besides, running away really wasn't her style. She took a step towards Barricade and was immediately wrapped in the semi-circle of one arm. For one split-second, the Decepticon give her his trademark, shark-like grin before his 'business' face returned.

"Good choice. You have my promise, that you won't feel any pain," he smirked and raised his left hand to her throat. Krauss saw a flash of silver in the corner of her eye before feeling a tiny pinch and sudden overwhelming drowsiness.

"Bas-bastard... D-drugged," she slurred and slumped against the Decepticon's chest.

"If I hadn't then I would be going against my promise to you. Beside, the procedure is far to delicate to have you flailing around in agony. This is the best course of action for us both."

This was the last thing she heard before she fell into Darkness.

*******************************TBC************************************************

**Authouress' Note: Oh no! What's Barricade done to poor Krauss! Well obviously he doesn't kill her cus this chapter is a recap of the Two weeks these two have spent getting to know one another. Can't you just feel the love! Anyways, in order to find out what Barricade has in store for my OC - You know the Drill- Add this to your Alerts for an update. And folks, don't be fooled by the way the big nasty Decepticon is being with the helpless little girl. In the next chapter we'll hear more from Barricade's perspective and see how lenient he's actually being towards Krauss.**

**Hope you all enjoy this new chapter and please forgive any spelling mistakes. If you find them (which you definitely will) please report them and I'll be more than happy to correct it.**

**Final Message: For Lecidre - Thanks so much for you're support Tanya, your enthusiasm for the next chapter motivated me to write faster, so I hope you enjoy this. Consider this a tribute. PS: Do you think the Prank Krauss pulled on Barricade is worthy of The Cybertronian April Fool's competition on DA? Let me know, Thanks!**

**Russian Word Meanings:**

_sigareta - Cigarette_

_ndividual'nost'_ - Personality

_Nyet_ - No

_O Trahnites' - O_h Fuck


	6. CH 6: Assuming Direct Control

**The Forgotten Scout**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. But I do own the rights to my OC: Natalya Krauss.**

_**'Blah' Cybertronian**_

_'Blah' Russian and thinking_

' Blah' General talking and narration

***********************NC******************************

**Chapter 6:**** Assuming Direct Control**

Sleeping had never been a luxury that Krauss preferred to indulge herself in. Even in the comfort of her Russian homeland, she only grabbed a few hours of dreamless solitude per day by staying out of the house half the night till three in the morning and waking before seven for a brisk jog around the perimeter of her family's estate in the frosty grey of dawn. As a result of this rather harsh regime she had imposed upon herself, the Russian discovered that not only was she now an insomniac, but also any attempt to change her habits and sleep for over 4 hours often caused her internal clock to shut down, leaving her groggy and lethargic for almost week.

She wasn't sure what to call this strange phenomenon, so Krauss liked to think of it as the Royal Bitch Step-Mother of Hangovers, seeing as the aftereffects of drinking too much on a night out was the only thing she could use to associate with. These occasions, however rare they were, usually occurred when the young Russian pushed herself so far to the point of sheer exhaustion that she was ready to collapse. 'Usually' being the key word in that sentence, as she was all to aware that though this was the most likely and logical scenario any normal person would have to suffer through; it was hardly her first time under sedation. She could literally count on one hand how many times had she been drugged into unconsciousness during her short life. This had to be the third.

With a soft groan, Krauss opened one eye to the dazzling white steaks of sunlight that pierced through the moth-eaten holes in the cheap motel curtains. The sudden brightness blinded her and with a recoiling hiss, she squeezed her eyes and rolled over to her side, exposing her back to the heat radiating from double-glazed window. Her head and body ached from lying still for so long; the room was boiling hot making her gasp for cool air; but worst of all, was the fact that she could't remember a thing from the previous night.

As she struggled to make sense of where she was and what had happened, the Russian teen choked and bolted upright as a wave of nausea rose up in her chest. Krauss instinctively went to cover her mouth, but froze rigidly in place as an explosion of pain flared up her arm and across her chest. For a brief, yet agonising moment, she found herself unable to move from the shock; her eyes widened in wordlessly horror as every muscle in her body immediately tense in anticipation.

_Tri. Dva. Odin!_

"MMPPPHHHH!" Krauss had just enough time to smother her screams before toppling off the edge of the bed clutching her arm to her chest as she howled into the crumpled heap of blankets on the floor. Whatever, that Bastard of a Decepticon had done to her, she wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of hearing her cries. Once the initial reaction was over, the Russian snarled and began to swear fastidiously under her breath, cursing Barricade and everything he represented.

_"Mudak! Grebanyj ubljudok! Sukin syn, ja ub'ju ego dlja jetogo!"_ After venting her frustration in her native tongue, Krauss felt calm enough to examine whatever damage had been done to her. Gingerly, she pulled her arm away from her chest and stared at a small dark purple gash that now decorated the white flesh on the inside of her elbow. She blinked uncertainly at the wound; it looked like a deep incision had been made in her arm, but to her confusion, there were no signs of stitches, congealed blood, or even scabbing. In fact, the injury looked almost as if it had healed months ago into a neat scar, instead of the fresh bloodied cut she had been expecting to be there in its place. Finally tearing her gaze away from her arm, Krauss carefully checked the rest of her body for the same unfamiliar wounds, but found nothing. _'Vhat zhe hell is going on?_' she thought to herself as she gently touched the purple scar apprehensively.

The sudden click of a key turning in a lock made Krauss' head shoot up towards the sound. She watched from her position on the floor, as Barricade's holo-form opened the door to their motel room and stepped slowly inside, clutching a carrier-bag overflowing with groceries in his right hand. Crimson eyes scanned everywhere over the top of his standard issue sunglasses before landing on the disheveled Russian girl at the foot of the bed. Krauss saw him raise an eyebrow in bemusement before closing the door behind him and placing the supplies he had bought into a nearby armchair.

"Yoou. Vhat have yoou done to me?" She rasped in a dangerously low voice. He didn't respond, which wasn't at all surprising seeing as she was used to been ignored by the Decepticon. But that didn't mean she had to shut up and take it either.

"Hey! I'm talking _Mudak_!" She winced at how weak her voice sounded, especially to her own ears. She wanted to shout and berate Barricade for whatever he had done to her this time, but she was just too tired to start another argument.

"I am aware human, I have audio transmitters," came the Sardonic reply. It was times like this that Krauss was never really sure if Barricade was actually trying to be funny or just had absolutely no concept of Satire.

"Zhen answer me," she glared up at him and folded her arms.

"Indulge my curiosity first and I will consider it," The holographic Police Officer sat down on the edge of the bed, his face blank as he met her gaze.

"Vhat?"

"Why are you on the floor?" The question caught the Russian off guard for a moment, until she saw a flicker of amusement dance across his face. He was making fun of her. Again.

"I vas planning on stabbing your feet as yoou walked by with zhis hair clip." Her reply was said with such poison that whatever humor Barricade had in his holographic features quickly vanished with a scowl.

"I would not be so bold if I was in your position human," the Decepticon growled softly.

"And vhat would zhat be?" She crossed her arms despite the discomfort it caused.

"Your disobedience is becoming both an annoyance to me and increasingly dangerous to my covert operation-" he began.

"Yoou mean zhe 'hole driving about aimlessly," she interrupted sarcastically. Barricade glared at her over his sunglasses so intensely that Krauss was half expecting him to yell at her again.

"Your grasp of English is still as pathetic as ever," he responded coolly with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. The insult was childish, but to hear him say it when he wasn't even a native to this planet made it sting. And he knew it. Krauss tried to keep her expression neutral but her cheeks flamed up anyway in humiliation.

"As I was saying… I warned you once before that if you compromised me in any situation there would be severe consequences. You chose to ignore that warning and thus far I have been more than accommodating towards your behaviour in the vain hope that you would learn your place in time." Barricade continued with cold indifference as Krauss resisted the urge to sigh in irritation; it seemed like the Decepticon had an entire speech prepared.

"But even I have my limits. Limits that you have exceeded for the last time. I can no longer leave you unchained, doing as you please; it is that kind of mentality that will get us both killed. So I came to a decision which benefits me greatly."

"Vhat about me?" Krauss asked.

"You didn't factor. Such an action would make my decision seem pointless, unnecessary and perhaps… incredibly cruel," Barricade smirked at his own words.

'Tell me vhat yoou done to me," Krauss demanded, feeling queasy as a variety of sickening thoughts whirled around her mind.

"While you were incapacitated, I implanted a data cell of my design and construct into the flesh of your forearm," The Decepticon stated smugly.

"Vhat is data cell?" The Russian's voice full of confusion.

"You humans call them 'Micro-chips.'"

"Vhy did you do zhis?" Krauss rubbed at the deep purple scar.

"Consider it an Insurance Policy. I have to protect my interests," Barricade's cold smirk widened.

"Vhat does it do? Vhat's it's purrpose?" Her tone was full of desperate impatience.

"It has a number of functions, but it's most important would be that it enables me to track your location wherever you may go,"Barricade said without hesitation.

"Yoou tagged me?" Krauss asked, utterly dumbstruck.

"I did." Was his remorseless reply.

"How dare you!" she hissed as she tried to stand up.

"If your current situation causes you this much distress, allow me to console you with the knowledge that you brought this entirely on yourself."

"Vhat! How!"

"You refused to obey me on numerous occasions."

"Zhat's not good reason! You can't treat me like dog because I don't listen to you!" The Russian shouted before cradling her head in her hands. "Zhis can't get much worse."

"If you're referring to your own predicament when you say that, then I think you should know that yes, it will get worse," the Holoform smiled.

"Vhat else have yoou done?" Krauss growled.

"The data-cell I created can self-destruct at my command," Barricade maliciously informed her. The Russian felt her insides freeze over from shock and stared at her arm in utter disbelief. With her attention no longer focused on him, the Decepticon continued talking.

"Once activated, the cell has a three cycle countdown and a failsafe on the slight chance I can not deactivate it manually. Should the detonation occur, it will have a fifty metre kill radius, destroying everything in the surrounding area and extinguishing your life-force instantly." Krauss looked up, her face riddled with confusion.

"Vhy? Vhy would yoou do somefing like zhat? Killing me I understand, but zhis is too-" Krauss began.

"Idiot girl. You think I created the cell as a method of controlling you?" Barricade interrupted, his holoform scowled with displeasure.

"Didn't you?"

"No. I would not lower myself to such petty vindictiveness. The self denotation sequence is only for the most extreme situation. A situation where you become a true threat to me."

"And vhat 'situation' would zhat be?" The Russian asked carefully.

"In the event that you are captured alive by the enemy. I can not allow you to compromise me in any way. Should you find yourself waking in the Autobot base to be interrogated, I give you fair warning, that you will not live for long enough to speak," Barricade warned herself.

"I wouldn't have betrayed you," Krauss stated shaking her head.

"I am not prepared to put my faith in a human. Besides, your explosive death at the heart of Autobot territory may just tip this war in my favour," The 'Con said almost cruelly.

"I could try to escape," the human teen countered, rubbing her tender arm in an attempt to feel where exactly this microchip was.

"You could, which is why I designed the fail-safe. But do not expect me to rescue you myself. I would never do something so foolish for a weaker life form like you."

"Vould you rescue one of your own Comrades?" Krauss inquired.

"Not unless I was ordered to do so by a superior officer. We are not 'one big family' like the Autobots. Friendship has no place in War," Barricade answered honestly.

"Is zhat joust how you feel? Or are all Decepticon friendless _ubljudki!_," Krauss said pointedly.

"This conversation is over." The Decepticon growled in a way that made it absolutely certain to the Russian that she'd struck a raw nerve. "What are you trying to do down there anyway?" He asked, finally noticing that the Russian was pressing different parts of the scar on her arm.

"I'm looking for your chip," she replied, knowing it was pointless to lie.

"What will you do when you find it?"

"Cut it out," Krauss snorted as though it were the most obvious solution.

"By all means, try if you must," Barricade encouraged, as a sudden overzealous smirk spread across his face. His hand disappeared for a moment within the confines of his navy jacket and pulled out a standard issue army knife that he offered to the Russian girl at his feet.

"Go on human. Take it. Slice yourself open and bleed for me. No doubt I could get some entertainment out of it before I have to stitch you back up," the holoform on the bed sat back and crossed his arms, looking down at Krauss with eager anticipation.

"Vhat else did you do? Vhy are yoou not being angry for defying yoou?" Her question shook slightly with rising panic. There was something in Barricade's holographic eyes that completely unnerved her more than anything so far.

"Heh. You've always being so guarded; so indifferent to whatever I say, and you foolishly believed that you could take control of your own life. Now the tables have turned and for the first time in your miserably short existence you feel yourself becoming just a helpless passenger in a car with a maniac behind the wheel, and this scares you doesn't it?" Barricade's holoform leaned towards her, but she held her ground and glared back.

"Iz zhere a point to zhis?" The Russian growled.

"Your discomfort mainly, as you struggle to keep your feelings in check; but nothing more than that," the Decepticon assured her and pulled away. "You desire an answer to your question, then you shall have it. You seem to be under the illusion that my data-cell is beneath your skin, hidden in between muscle and flesh alike. If such a thing were true, then yes, you could easily remove the device with a single cut and minimal pain on your behalf. Unfortunately for you, I already estimated this possibility as highly probable and have taken the necessary precautions."

"Precautions?" Krauss pressed him to continue. Wordlessly, Barricade reached out and grabbed her arm with one hand and traced the purple scar with the fingers of his other.

"I fused the cell against the skeletal structure of this limb, and wired it through the 'nerve endings' of your central nervous system. Any attempt to remove it now will prove to be both agonising and fatal," the holoform said as Krauss snatched her back her hand away from him.

"How did you-" she began, but was abruptly cut off.

"The process was delicate but I've found enough information on your world wide web to guide me through both human surgery and your anatomy," Barricade shrugged.

"Zhis is too far. There vas no need to do zhis!" The Russian hissed, cradling her arm protectively.

"No need? I did only what was necessary, because **You** forced my hand." the Decepticon countered.

"You! You… You are _bezumnyj!" _Krauss muttered as started to stand up with her back pressed firmly against the wall to steady herself.

"Are you really questioning my sanity human? Believe me, should you ever find yourself unlucky enough to meet a single one of my comrades, you'll realise just how sane I am," Barricade practically drawled as he leered at his companion.

"Vhat about when zhis is all over? How vill I get it out then?" the Russian teen asked in a even voice.

"Allow me to respond to your question with a question: Do you think when that day ever comes you can find the stomach to saw through your own arm?" Her stunned expression was all the answer Barricade needed.

DECEPTICON: 6 HUMAN: 5

*******************************TBC************************************************

**Authoress' Note: Wow it's been quite a while since I've updated, this story. Hopefully it doesn't have too many spelling errors. If you my dear readers spot any mistakes, you know the drill. Hope you liked the new chapter! Ciao and stay tuned!**

**Russian to English Translations:-**

_Tri. Dva. Odin! - _Three. Two. One!

_"Mudak! Grebanyj ubljudok! Sukin syn, ja ub'ju ego dlja jetogo!" - _"Asshole! Fucking Bastard! Son of a bitch, I'll kill him for this."

_ubljudki - _Bastards

_bezumnyj_ - Insane


	7. CH 7: What's My Motivation?

**The Forgotten Scout**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. But I do own the rights to my OC: Natalya Krauss.**

_**'Blah' Cybertronian**_

_'Blah' Russian and thinking_

' Blah' General talking and narration

***********************NC******************************

**Chapter 7:**** What's my Motivation?**

"Krauss? Hey are you even listening to me?"

The Russian girl in question, glanced back up at the screen of her laptop, to see the concerned, Hispanic face of Raimond peering back at her through his web-cam. She raised an eyebrow at the state of his bedroom behind him; littered with dishes and dirty clothes.

"Do you ever clean your room?" She asked critically.

"Stop changing the subject! You always do that!" he replied sharply.

"I vas distracted. What vere you joust speaking?" Krauss sighed and rubbed the vivid purple scar on the inside of her arm. She kept it hidden under the table so her Latino correspondent couldn't see it. He was worked up enough over her sudden disappearance nearly three weeks ago without needing another reason to add to his expanding list.

The mark had been throbbing all morning which was why she found herself thinking back to Barricade's sickening revelation of turning her into a bomb, rather than paying attention to the video chat she had set up. Every time she thought of his smirking holographic face, she just wanted to break whatever was at hand.

"I said I'm worried about you. You take off in the middle of the night and don't tell anyone where you're going. Are you in trouble? Is it money? Drugs? Come on, you can tell me," Raimond tried to coax her, but she could hear the urgency in his voice.

"Vhy do yoou care?" She muttered in an irritated tone.

"Why? Are you serious? Because we're friends!" The Mexican youth exclaimed as though it was obvious.

"_Nyet_, Raimond. We are not friends." Krauss said with such conviction, that Raimond's expression suddenly resembled that of a kicked puppy, starring downtrodden at his keyboard.

"What are we then Krauss?" She could hear the pout in his voice without needing to see his face.

"Zhere is no 'WE.' 'YOU' are zhe son of my former land-lady who followed me around all zhe damn time joust cus I helped yoou out once," the Russian girl answered with a forceful edge to her voice.

"Helped me out? Is that what you call it? Krauss, you saved my life!" The boy breathed in disbelief at her off-handed remark.

"Believe me, I'm starting to regret zhat decision," She shook her head at the boy's persistence. Saving his life had been accidental. In truth, when she arrived in America and received a 'debrief' from her big brother, she wanted nothing more than to get in; grab whatever information about Mission City she could find; and head back home to Moscow, hoping to never have to return to this country again.

She had been trying to find a cheap place to stay while she was here, having resolved that there was no way she was going to spend a single night under her brother's roof. Walking around downtown in the dark, Krauss had been searching for a rundown 'BnB' when she saw three wrestling men burst out the back door of some seedy bar, shouting in a language she couldn't understand. She was never one for standing idly by and felt compelled to intervene. Especially when she caught sight of the familiar silver gleam of knives being unsheathed.

It seemed like such a stroke of good luck, when the young man she had rescued from having his throat cut open, revealed that his mother was the proprietress of rundown hotel nearby. Funny how fate often worked out.

However, nothing comes easy. Or without a few downsides.

The boy who introduced himself as Raimond was quick to try and befriend her. She had to admit he was a cheerful young man whom she might have liked to get to know a little better if things had been different. But she had a job to do and she reminded herself that it was best she keep her distance. Sadly, the latino boy never took the hint to leave her alone and bounced around constantly her like a little bunny-rabbit.

In the eyes of others, Raimond was probably seen as bright, eager and helpful. But to Krauss, he was overzealous, irritating and had a habit of getting in her way. Honestly, if she had never saved his life that night, she'd already be relaxing in her own room, listening to her old 'Aria' CDs and watching the first snowfall outside her window. Her 'mission' would be over, and Yuri would be off her back for at least several years. But as it turned out, the men who attacked Raimond after recovering from their injuries, vowed to hunt down the 'little Russian bitch' who'd hospitalised them.

And unfortunately for Krauss, they succeeded.

She had been walking back to the hotel flanked by some of Raimond's 'friends,' listening to their idle chatter rather than jointing it, when they were suddenly surrounded by a gang of menacing figures at the end of the road. They came up closer, boxing them in from all sides, twirling an assortment of blunt objects in their hands like bats and pipes. Krauss remembered thinking how strange this was, especially when she could see that they all had the black casing of a gun's grip holstered in the front of their jeans. If they wanted a fight, why not use the weapons that do the most damage? She had wondered.

It wasn't long before she answered her own question. These guys didn't want any death tonight. Just revenge and blood. Her blood to be specific.

What followed wasn't what you would call a fight. More like a massacre. Sure, Raimond's friends had brawled before and gotten into the occasional scrap with people outside their district, but they were still just kids trying to play 'gangster' with the big boys who killed on a regular basis. She was the only one with any real experience as a fighter, and she knew it. One of her many mentors had been former Spetsnaz in the GRU, and therefore a master of Sambo, Systema and _Kulachniy boy._ At first, he had been unwilling to teach her even the basics. Krauss was a girl after all and he had never taught a woman in his life; so he was uncertain as to whether or not she could handle the training. Nonetheless, years of rigorous pain and hardship had paid off.

She remembered smirking with contempt when the rival gang attacked. Someone really should had told these fools that hand-to-hand combat was a Russian military art.

One by one her companions fell. Their basic knowledge of street fighting against blunt weaponry gave them next to no chance of winning their own individual fights. Eventually, Krauss was brought to her knees as well, thanks to a cheap shot from an unknown assailant while she was distracted by two opponents at once.

They should have been satisfied with their 'victory.' They got what they wanted from her after all. But suddenly defeating her wasn't enough for them, so they decided to kill her anyway. And they very nearly did, if it hadn't been for the timely intervention of a certain 18ft murderous Deception. Not that he even needed to resort to his bi-pedalled form that night; the cowards had ran as soon as they saw the headlights and flashing Police siren of his Alternate Saleen body.

Krauss pinched her scar as fury rose up inside her chest, making the blood run hot through her head. She glared at Raimond's stupidly baffled face with open hostility over the web-cam. If she had known the consequences of saving his life back then would have ended up with her becoming the servant of a psychotic Decepticon whom she owed her life too twice now; she would have spared herself the trouble and just shot the latino boy herself.

"If that's what you think, then why'd you answer my chat request?" Raimond asked in a genuinely innocent tone.

"I vas expecting someone else," said replied off-handedly. It wasn't a lie, not completely. She had been hoping to talk to her older brother Alexei, who unlike Yuri was contently living back home in Russia with his wife and baby daughter. As the middle child and second son in the family, nothing was ever expected of Alexei, he had been free to do as he pleased; preferring to stay out of the political manipulations and unsavoury business deals the Levitskys' had presided over in almost a century. It was for this reason that Krauss was glad to have had him in her life as her only good big brother. With no pressure or responsibilities stacked upon him in their youth to one day become the future Head of the family, Alexei had grown into a kind, compassionate and selfless man who had his little sister's affections and his older brother's disgust.

During their childhood, Alexei was always the one she went to for comfort when Yuri had gone too far in his spiteful pranks or when she just needed someone to talk too. That was why she was even on her laptop to begin with. Everything that had happened to her in the last few weeks had become a little too much to handle, and so in a moment of weakness, she had logged on hoping to see that Alexei was online somewhere in cyber-space. Unfortunately, her brother was no where to be seen. All she got was the irritating beat of a chat request from Raimond who spotted her before she could log off.

He was a poor substitution for Alexei, but at that point Krauss just wanted to see any familiar face when she accept his request.

"Krauss." She glanced back towards the screen at the sound of her name being rolled by a soft Hispanic accent. Raimond's expression was grim. "Please tell me now. Are you in trouble?"

Krauss never had the chance to lie when she heard the low roar of an engine and spotted a Saleen S281 police car reversing into the garage in front of her. Barricade was back from patrol.

"I must go. _Da svidaniya _Raimond."

"No! Wait Kraus-" She cut of the dismayed Latino by shutting the lid of her laptop with an audible snap. The Russian girl left her work bench and walked over to where Barricade's holoform was climbing out of his Alt-form.

"Good Drive?" Her question was met with a noncommittal grunt and a suspicious glare.

"Who were you just talking to?" Barricade asked, his tone dark.

"No one important." She shrugged. She knew it was in everyone's best interest to keep Raimond far away from Decepticon surveillance.

"I hope you remembered to keep your mouth shut," the holoform growled as he brushed past her to grab a red toolbox on one of the high shovels that covered the walls.

"Eet's not hard to be forgetting. I have my own incentive to remember thanks to you," She scowled and bared the inside of her forearm to emphasise her meaning.

"What do you want from me fleshing? Remorse? Sympathy? Pity? I will not apologise, so dispense with the inane prodding and be grateful I even bothered to close the wound for you."

"Close zhe wound? Yoou fused my flesh back together with a BURNING LASER!" She spat back bitterly.

"You're welcome." Barricade sneered before shoving the heavy toolbox hard against her chest. "Wiring is burnt out over the engine and it's starting to affect my left servo. Needs replacing. Get to work." He ordered.

"_Mudak_." He heard her mutter under her breath before she stomped over to his real body and popped open his bonnet.

"Glitch." He retorted loud enough for her know he had been listening. The Decepticon went over the lean against the opposing wall with his arms folded and watched the human intently. While he was in his holoform, Barricade could reroot his power reserve to maintain this solid holograph while stasis-locking his actual body so that Krauss could work on it in peace without having to listen to him complaining whenever she touched a particularly sensitive wire.

It was annoying having to remain as a holoform for a long time, but it was easier to manage than dividing his consciousness between the two bodies. Sometimes, Barricade missed using a normal holograph. It was just an illusion he conjured, and not an extension of himself like his hologram was. But that was the price he had to pay when he made the mistake of researching 'human companionship' and found out that humans need to socialise with others in order to keep their sanity. He also found several hundred internet dating sites that he felt compelled to send viruses to in his revulsion. This knowledge of human sociability had worried him a great deal because he was sure the Russian wasn't all there to begin with; Primus only knew what she would be like after a few months of isolation from other people.

Krauss had once asked him out of curiosity how he was able to go between his holoform and his true Cybetronian self. The closest thing to an understanding they finally came to, after what was hours of argument and debate, had been to compare his ability to something humans call 'Astral Projection.' Barricade later looked that up on the World Wide Web as well and was not at all impressed with the comparison.

"Have you spoken to your brother recently?" Barricade inquired as Krauss busied herself by rummaging in the toolbox.

"Which one?" She picked up a wrench and a pair of long-nosed pliers.

"I wasn't aware you had more than one." the Decepticon shrugged.

"Yoou never asked."

"I didn't care too. Your personal life is not my primary concern."

"Vell aren't yoou joust zhe sweetest. I bet all zhe other Decept-acons loved yoou," Krauss lashed back sarcastically.

"I believe I was despised by the other soldiers. Though they never admitted it aloud," Barricade smirked almost fondly at the memory of throwing an insubordinate recruit into one of the Kaon smelting pits. The other young 'cons backed away from him in fear when he asked them who else wanted to join their 'little friend for a bath.'

"You have yet to answer my question femme." Krauss sighed at his persistence.

"_Nyet_. I sent misleading information to Yuri like you asked and have heard nothing since," she replied, secretly relieved that he hadn't bothered with her in awhile.

"Your brother is strange," Barricade commented, causing Krauss to stop what she was doing and turn to the holoform confused.

"How so?"

"His treatment of you is not appropriate conduct for an elder sibling," the Decepticon stated matter-of-factly. The Russian's eyes widened like saucers at that.

"Not appropriate? Are yoou being serious? After vhat yoou do to me all zhe time yoou're going to criticise my _Brat_ for his behaviour towards me?" Krauss could scarcely believe what she was hearing. Barricade responded with a withering look.

"I am not your brother and therefore do not have any obligation to care for you or about you. Besides, most of the time it is you who is at fault and I act accordingly towards you." Barricade explained. "I have observed your interactions with your brother and it seems he deliberately treats you badly without any provocation on your behalf."

"I've never known you to take zhis much interest in my life before now. Stop it." Krauss said, her voice cold.

"Don't mistake curiosity with concern, human. When I wish to know something I find to be confusing you will answer my questions. Now tell me, what did you do to gain his disrespect? Something unforgivable no doubt?" Barricade's prying was too much for the young Russian to handle. Red haze blinded her and dulled her good sense for only a few seconds. But they were a few seconds too long. The Decepticon holoform barely had any time to reaction when a the wrench Krauss had been used was sent flying across the room and smacked him hard in the face.

Being a holoform, although solid, he could not feel pain, nor was any blood drawn by her attack. But he still felt the wrench connect with his cheek and knew if he'd have been human, it would have broken his nose. In his shock at her reaction, Barricade didn't notice Krauss charge up to him and punch him square in the gut.

"_UBLYUDOK! Kak smejut Vy_! Go on and kill me now, I don't care! But don't yoou EVER speak about things yoou couldn't possibly understand and zhink yoou know vhat you're saying! Yoou don't have zhe right!" She screamed her voice thick with emotion. Barricade had never been more horrified of this child in the entire month that they'd know each other than he was at that moment. Sure, he'd upset her in the past and she would get angry and curse him, then be back to her calm and condescending self shortly after. But this was the first time, she had actually and completely 'flipped out.'

The Decepticon knew he had gone too far, but there was no way on this planet he was going to apologise to the girl. Instead, he did the only rational thing he could think of. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her violently.

"THAT'S IT! THAT'S REALLY IT! YOU LITTLE GLITCH! I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO DO WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT WITH YOU! YOU'VE JUST SIGNED YOUR OWN DEATH WARRANT MAGGOT!" Barricade shouted as he threw her on the ground and online his body. The holoform disappeared, it's features full of vicious fury as it glared at the girl on the floor. Krauss looked up at the Saleen that was now transforming into the towering Decepticon she had come to hate.

"Any last words, insect?" As he asked his question, he activated his signature shuriken-styled weapon and let the blades spin threateningly. If he was going to kill this thorn in his side, he was going to make it as messy as possible.

He expected fear, or even begging for her miserable life. So nothing could have surprised him more than when she stared up with a cool expression on her face.

"I existed." Barricade lowered his arm slightly, utterly baffled at her response.

"Am I supposed to understand that? Have you gone insane? Is that what's happening? Speak!" he bellowed as his anger built up inside him. The girl was mocking him. She had to be.

"I'm answering your question. Yoou asked vhat I did to make my _brat_ hate me so. I vonce asked him zhe same thing. And zhat's vhat he told me." She got up from the ground and brushed herself off before meeting Barricade's optics with her chin raised high. "My _brat _hates me because I exist."

For a moment, the 'con was at a loss of what to do next. Her revelation was totally astonishing to him and unexpected to say the least. As he stood there, debating to himself, his transmitter crackled with life.

_**"Requesting audience with: Decepticon Officer Barricade. Orders: Secure network and respond immediately.**_" The 'con in question nearly jumped out of his armour at the voice in his own language. He glanced down at Krauss' confused face and retracted his weaponry, watching as the tension left her body now that she was no longer starring straight at imminent death.

He turned away from her and answered the broadcast cautiously. There was no way the Autobots even knew he was alive, let alone send he a message across his own frequency. It had to be a Decepticon. But the question was who?

"_**Barricade here. Transmitting on a secure channel. Who is this**_?"

_**"Decepticon Communications Officer: Soundwave.**_" Was the chilling response that made Barricade's energon run cold. He should have been delighted that a fellow Decepticon had found him and was reaching out to him. But Barricade had always disliked this mech above all others. And from what little emotion Soundwave displayed, Barricade assumed that the feeling was entirely mutual.

_**"Soundwave? How in the name of Primus did you find me?**_" Barricade asked, once he recovered himself.

"_**Answer: Easily**_." Was the cryptic response. "_**Query: How did you survive the battle for the Allspark, while Lord Megatron perished in your stead**_?" The question stung as it was supposed to. Soundwave had a habit of knowing exactly which buttons to press. Krauss looked on silently. Whoever Barricade was talking to was clearly someone important. And that someone had just saved her life.

"_**I was not present on the battlefield. Myself and Bonecrusher were engaged in a fight with Optimus Prime when we were in pursuit of the Allspark.**_" Barricade explained, hardening his tone against Soundwave.

"_**Statement: Optimus Prime killed Bonecrusher and arrived at Mission City successfully to fight Lord Megatron. Query: Why did you not continue your pursuit**_?" Barricade growled at the unspoken accusation in the other mech's voice.

"_**I'm not a coward. I didn't run away like Starscream did. By the time I made it to the city, everyone was dead and the Autobots were victorious. There was nothing I could have done.**_" he snarled. Static buzzed for a few nano-clicks in his audio and he waited expectantly.

"_**Query: What about Frenzy? Was there nothing you could have done then?**_" The question made Barricade's anger vanish instantly only to be replaced by guilt. After all, the glitchy little mini-con had been not just his partner, but one of Soundwave's beloved creations.

_**"Frenzy was a soldier. He made his choice to stay behind in the Sector Seven facility after he returned Lord Megatron to us. His signal was blocked by the human fortifications, so none of us knew he required our aid,**_" It was more of an excuse than an apology. But even if it had, Soundwave would never have accepted it. He wasn't the type of mech you felt sorry for no matter the cause.

"_**Affirmative: Frenzy did make his choice. Statement: Now you must make yours.**_" At his words, Barricade felt the familiar tingling around his frame as Soundwave sent a stream of information to directly to his CPU. He opened the file and found what looked like a map of the United States, with various glowing points marked off across all the different regions of America.

"_**What exactly am I looking at**_?" Barricade asked.

_**"Response: Locations to Sector Seven bases across the continent. Retrieved by: Frenzy prior to his termination. Order: You will go to one of these facilities to obtain all data on our kind. Urgency: Required.**_"

"_**Why's this suddenly important? And on who's orders?**_" Barricade snapped back. Megatron was dead and there was no way he was going to start listening to Soundwave bossing him around without a good enough reason.

"_**Orders issued by: Flight Commander Starscream. Statement: All projects conducted by Sector Seven will be shut down and all data erased. Reasoning: Humans have something they wish to hid from Autobot Allies. Order: Obtain data at all cost.**_" Soundwave replied with his usual coldness. Barricade scratched the back of his helm and glanced over at Krauss standing by his side. She was watching him thoughtfully, observing his reactions and trying to read the situation before her. In truth, Barricade had half expected her to run out the garage for dear life, leaving him alone to deal with Soundwave; after which he'd have to track her down later. But no; for whatever bizarre reason, she had stayed right next to him.

_**"Any ideas on how I should try and do this?**_" Barricade groaned. Talking with Soundwave was always a real pain in the aft.

_**"Recommendation: Covertly**_." Was the dry response.

_**"Don't mock me, creep**_." Barricade growled back.

"_**Suggestion: Refrain from asking stupid questions in the future. Soundwave: Ending transmission**_." The signal went dead, before Barricade had the chance to retort. Irritated, the 'con turned his attention back to the Russian girl by his feet. "Well? How much of that did you understand?"

"None of it. But judging from vhat I could see; I guess yoou have been given important job, _da_?" Krauss said confidently. Needless to say, Barricade was impressed at her skills in perception; especially seeing as he wasn't human and his facial expression must have been difficult to read. But there was no need to let her know that.

"No human, I haven't been given an important job to do." He kneeled down so that he was eye level with his companion and flashed her a sinister metallic grin.

"WE have been given an important job to do."

*******************************TBC************************************************

**Authoress' Note: This one was quicker than usual. Mostly because of the recent motivations and encouragement you guys have been giving me in the last few months. Seriously, a big thanks to everyone who's reviewed, favorited and/or put me on their alerts, you guys have been amazing. Hopefully, more chapters will be going up alot more frequently.**

**And I think a special Thanks definitely goes out a few people in particular:**

**Lecidre - You're an absolute star and have supported my story from the beginning when I was still throwing ideas around in my head. The picture you did of Barricade and Krauss was incredible and for all those who want to see here's the link: lecidre. deviantart art/I-ll-never-betray-you-287265170**

**Alracairam - Sorry love, I don't know your FF username but this chapter is dedicated to you and the wonderful picture of Krauss you did for me. Thank you so much. Links are here for anyone to see: Alracairam. deviantart art/Meetings-in-a-Storm-291686499**

**And Finally:**

**VampireQueenAkasha - Your support and the fact that you are enjoying this story as much as I've enjoyed reading all of yours, means the world to me. You've been an inspiration on my writing for a long time and recently your Shockwave/Red Alert fic 'Never Will be' has had me up and down for the last few weeks.**

**For all my fans and those I didn't mention by name, know that I appreciate your support and without you, I would have stopped years ago.**

**Thank you and I hope you like the latest chapter.**

**Russian to English Translations:-**

_Da - Yes_

_Brat - Brother_

_Kak smejut Vy - How dare you_

_Ublyudok - Bastard_

_Da svidaniya - Goodbye_

_Nyet - No_

_Mudak - Asshole_

_Kulachniy boy - Russian fist-fightin_


	8. CH 8: Diplomatic Immunity

**The Forgotten Scout**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. But I do own the rights to my OC: Natalya Krauss.**

_**'Blah' Cybertronian**_

_'Blah' Russian and thinking_

' Blah' General talking and narration

***********************NC******************************

**Chapter 8: Diplomatic Immunity**

**Current Location: San Antonio, Texas.**

"Stop squirming back there! You're making me itch," Barricade snapped at the human girl lying across his backseat, who was wrestling around with a pair of black tights. Irritated, Krauss gave up in her struggle and flopped back down against the warm leather looking flushed.

"Vell yoou vere zhe one who vouldn't pull over and let me change outside," she retorted.

"I thought the main objective of your plan was to remain inconspicuous at all times," Barricade said in a questioning tone.

"So?"

"So please explain how stripping off your clothing on the side of a busy freeway constitutes as 'remaining inconspicuous?'" Barricade asked.

"Yoou think zhe back seat of 'Pol-lease karr' is better?" Krauss sneered as she reached for the tights around her ankles again and grabbed them roughly. "_Govno_! Hey boss, here's krazy idea: Vhy don't yoou stop doing nothing and be helping me instead?"

"You refuse my aid when I save your life and yet you require it in order to dress yourself? Are all humans this contradictory or is it a personal quirk?" Barricade said, sounding visibly displeased if his grating voice was anything to go by.

"I knew I should haf gone vith zhe stockings," the Russian muttered, rolling her eyes. "Zhen I vouldn't haf to listen to zhis."

"You assured me you had everything planned out. Don't blame your own lack of preparation on me," The 'Con grumbled before adding: "Speaking of which… What exactly is your plan?"

"I thought I already told yoou to trust me."

"That was an insufficient answer."

"Vhy vas it?"

"Because I don't trust you. And I'm certain I never will," was the cold response.

"Tch. Fine I'll tell you, joust let me finish zhis," Krauss scowled and resumed her efforts with her tights. After ten minutes of blindly fumbling around with her chosen outfit, the Russian teen sat up triumphantly and straightened herself out.

"How do I look?" she asked the Decepticon, who had activated his holoform to properly examine her. Krauss wore a silken, cornflower-blue dress with delicate gold trim along the stitching. Underneath, due to her significant lack of a chest, she wore a padded bra and had small, black, short-sleeved jacket on over the top of her dress to hid the straps. Her hair, once rough and loose around her face, was now tied into an elaborate twisted bun at the back of her head, with stray wispy curls hanging by her ears. Her face was made-up with powder and cosmetics; and on her feet was a pair of black high heels giving her the height boost she sorely needed. This was the first time Barricade had ever seen his companion look like the adult human female she was rather than the pre-teen boy in baggy clothes she preferred to be. She glared at his lack of response and toyed and tugged the hem of the dress, trying to pull it down over her knees, and making it painfully obvious that she was not happy being in this sort of clothing.

"Uncomfortable," Barricade replied honestly.

"It's suppose to be like zhat. I mean to say: How does it make me look?"

"Angry and very uncomfortable," the holoform said, his tone both serious and mocking.

"Are yoou doing zhis on purpose?" Krauss snapped.

"If there's something you wanted to ask me specifically, then just say it human. Don't make your questions so broad," Barricade explained in a notably slower voice than before.

"Alright. Does zhis outfit make me look… Attractive?" the Russian asked, annoyed at the Decepticon's deliberate jeering. Barricade lowered his sunglasses and stared at his partner with open disgust twisted on his holographic face.

"Why ask me something like that? How would I know what you humans consider attractive? More importantly, what does this have to do with your plan?" Barricade snapped.

"In zhis world, sex appeal is everything. Men vill always drop zheir guard around a girl. Zhe prettier she is, zhe more vulnerable a man becomes. It is a weakness I can use to my advantage," Krauss stated in a smugly contemptuous voice.

"You intend to use seduction as means of infiltration?" The question was laced with genuine surprise. Barricade had honestly never thought his companion capable of such a tactic, let alone willing to do it.

"Of course not. Zhis is not like 'James Bond movie,' vhere female character whores herself out for vhat she is vanting. No, a sweet word and a kind smile vill be enough to turn zheir heads for a moment vhile I walk past zhem. And if zhat does not vork, I'll knock zhem out," the Russian said brusquely, looking both flustered and irritated at Barricade's query.

The Decepticon hid his relief at her angry response; he was secretly glad he hadn't totally misjudged her after all.

"A fair answer, but one that lacks true deception. It is so much more satisfying to gain another's trust and watch the devastated look of betrayal on their faceplates before you twist your blade deeper into their spark," Barricade smirked, seemingly lost in some sort of memory he was no doubt replaying in his CPU. Krauss gave him a frosty stare.

"I don't have time to be enacting your sick fantasies, and if yoou don't like it, zhen yoou put on zhe dress instead." The faraway look in the holoform's red eyes vanished at her retort. His hardened gaze was fixed on her face for a moment before disappearing behind a pair of black lenses. Despite being unable to see his eyes, the Russian knew he was still glaring at her.

"You have wasted enough of my time, human. Discuss your plan with me immediately or the only way you'll be wearing that outfit of yours is tied around your neck," Barricade's tone demanded answers, but Krauss felt one last jibe was in order.

"Yoou might have better luck with zhe guards zhan I if yoou wore zhe dress. I'll even lend yoou make-up." A guttural growl through the car speakers warned Krauss that she was dangerously over stepping her bounties out of Barricade's patience.

"Pull up zhe map again and I vill show yoou," she sighed, ignoring the disgruntled holoform in the front seat. The was a pause before a blue light started to flash on the dashboard and emit an azure coloured laser into the backseat next to Krauss. the end of the laser grew larger and wider until it morphed into a three-dimensional landscape mapping out downtown San Antonio. To the left of the slowly rotating hologram was a small white chapel that Krauss reached out and touched in order to focus the laser in on that particular area.

"Of zhe list of Sector Seven locations zhat your 'Superior' sent to yoou zhat can be found within zhe US, we agreed on zhis one," Krauss began but stopped abruptly when Barricade made a mocking noise in the back of his holographic throat. "Vhat is it now?"

"We? 'We' didn't agree on anything. If you recall fleshing, _I_ said that _we_ should have gone to Kansas City in Missouri."

"And I vanted us to go to Alaska, but yoou refused," Krauss pointed out.

"I'm not going to freeze my chassis off just because you wanted to go somewhere ridiculous. Do you have any idea what snow will do to my treads? Oh, of course you don't," Barricade complained through the speaker while his holoform glared in silence with folded arms across his chest.

"Zhat's vhy ve made compromise. And zhis-" The Russian gestured to the projection in front of her. "Is zhe 'Alamo.' It used to be a missionary school and after zhat, a military compound which vas zhe site of some historic American battle. Zhese days, most people think it is nothing more zhan tourist attraction."

"Hiding in plain sight and even opening the doors to invite the masses in. Such behaviour could compromise their facility at any moment. I'm surprised they haven't been discovered earlier by some clumsy fleshing opening the wrong door. These Sector Seven types are either overconfident, foolish or just plain stupid." Barricade asked.

"Perhaps all three," Krauss responded before dragging her fingers across the map to isolate the Alamo hologram from the surrounding area. "As you can see, zhere is no blueprint for zhe Sector Seven base hidden under zhe Chapel. We only have map of Alamo building."

"So we are walking blindly into this? That's your plan?" Krauss could hear the Decepticon's temper building up behind his words. Not reacting to the jibe, she shook her head and pointed to a spot deep within the centre of the building.

"Not completely. Here is one of two of zhe entrances into zhe base zhat your scan vas able to detect. I go in zhere and once I'm inside, I'll activate zhis device." She paused to produce a small black cylinder-shaped thing from the confines of her jacket, and rolled it between her fingers. "It's called a Scanner. It's function is to be surveying surrounding area, and sending it's findings back to you to create 3D blueprint of zhe facility. It'll be up to you zhen to guide me round the premises safely."

"How did you acquire this object?" Barricade asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"I know people," Krauss answered evasively.

"Fine. Keep your secrets. They matter little to me… Can this device of yours also detect organic lifeforms?" The Decepticon continued.

"Da, of course. Vhat vould be point of guiding me on map if I vas going to be walking straight into enemy's arms anyway?" The Russian snorted.

"Watch your tone," Barricade growled, despite being impressed at the lengths the human girl had gone to to ensure their success. "So once inside, I will guide you to the central control room so that you can acquire all of Sector Seven's data. How will we communicate?"

"I have an earpiece to be listening to yoour directions. Joust sync a connection between yourself and zhis, and we should have strong enough broadcast signal to stay in touch vhen I get into facility," Krauss responded, pulling back a stray ringlet of her hair to reveal a tiny flesh-coloured device fit snugly in her ear.

"How do you plan on getting back out?"

Krauss pointed to the second entrance on the other side of the Alamo diagram. "Hopefully zhis way vill be clear by zhe time I make my escape."

"And if it's not?" Barricade pressed. Krauss touched the inside of her forearm deliberately, making sure than Barricade saw her action.

"I think yoou know vhat to do if I don't get out in time." The Decepticon said nothing. His holoform nodded it's head in a mixture of understanding and approval.

"Anything else you vant to know? Or are you done interrogating me?" Krauss asked, crossing her arms expectantly.

"One final question. How do you intend to gain access to the base to begin with?"

The Russian smirked at the question before asking in response:

"How good are you vith diversions Boss?"

**Current Location: Outside the Alamo, Downtown San Antonio**.

Barricade was not in the slightest bit happy about his new look. His holoform sulked behind the wheel of his alt-form with his chin propped up on one hand. He was dressed in a smart, carefully tailored black suit, with a black silk tie, black leather gloves and tiny gold-plated cufflinks emblazoned with the Savile Row logo on both sleeves of his jacket. His spiked hair lay flat and ungelled against his forehead, and a white earpiece was curled around the outer lobe. The only remnant of his previous look that remained was his trademark shades completely obscuring his smouldering red eyes.

To make matters worse, it wasn't just his holoform that had received a 'make-over.' He had insisted on keeping his Saleen Alt-form intact regardless of Krauss' suggestions of scanning a different car. Once again, they had compromised by changing the colour of his paint job to midnight black; removing his sirens; and adding two proudly fluttering Russian flags to his bonnet. He glared at the little flags through the window before turning his gaze to the one responsible for his anger lounging in his back seat.

"This is only temporary correct?" he asked in a sharp clipped voice.

"Are yoou still talking about zhis? Ve need to be looking convincing," Krauss frowned as she stared out across at the Alamo building nearby; her eyes mapping the every detail, from guards to security camera locations.

"Answer the question, insect."

She tutted and returned his glare. "_Da_. Vhen zhis is over, yoou can go back to your Pol-leese form. But for now, you need to shut up and do as I say." Barricade's holoform snapped his head around so fast there was an audible click. His teeth were bared in a snarl.

"How dare you speak to me-" But Krauss did dare.

"Look, you're supposed to be acting as bodyguard for me. Zhat is vhy I needed you to change your car colours and uniform. As a bodyguard, you should just follow my orders and don't answer back no matter vhat," she explained in a factual tone. The holoform in the driver's seat had such a twisted expression on his face, he looked like he was physically trying to choke down a mouthful of lemons.

"And why would I play a subservient role next to you? Who in Primus are you supposed to be in this elaborate scheme that deserves a chaperon?" Barricade scoffed. Krauss smirked in response and produced a set of identification papers from the purse resting on her lap.

"Right now I am an Ambassador from zhe Russian Embassy stationed in _Amerika._ I have embarked on a diplomatic venture to zhe Alamo to discuss possible financial aid to restore the building to it's former glory in exchange for trade connections outside Government jurisdiction." Her speech was said in such confident English that Barricade wondered if it had been rehearsed before hand.

"What if they have no interest in what you offer?" The Decepticon inquired, but her Russian companion shook her head.

"Zhat von't happen. I assure you." She broke off and reached underneath the seat in front of her to pull out a black briefcase she stored away there. "One more thing. I need you to be carrying zhis past security. Don't vorry, as my guard, you should have no problem." Barricade raised an eyebrow and glanced over his glasses in curiosity.

"What is it?" he couldn't help but ask. His scans came up blank so he truly had no idea what was in there. Krauss opened the case with an audible click and showed him the contents. The holoform gave a low appreciative whistle at what he saw, and grudgingly allowed himself a moment of respect for his human partner.

"This is yours?" She gave him a stiff nod and gently closed the case lid, locked it, and handed it over to Barricade's waiting hands.

"Once we are in, I'm going to be needing zhat back. For insurance you understand."

"Very well. Is that everything or it there something else you need to mention?"

"Here, take zhis. If anyone asks my name, I vant yoou to be saying zhis." She pushed a piece of paper into his holoform's hand with crudely written Russian scrawled all over it. "Just follow my leading and do exactly vhat I say." Barricade frowned at her answer but said nothing. He silently memorised the the interactions before crumpling the message up. She was within her right to be calling the shots seeing as it was her plan. That didn't mean the 'Con had to like it.

"It's 1400 earth hours. We have one shot at this, and only one hour to get in and out. Don't disappoint me girl…. Let's go." Barricade started up his engines and slowly drove around the corner to the front of the Alamo Building where everyone could see them. They had been parked nearby, out of sight from both security camera's and prying eyes in order to plan safely without attracting unwanted attention. Now they had revealed themselves, there was no turning back, and room for mistakes.

Barricade's holoform glanced in his rearview mirror at his passenger who had already morphed into character. She sat rigidly with her legs crossed, staring out of the windows with a practised look of both refinement and boredom. She possessed all the airs of a pampered aristocrat and carried herself so perfectly in that roll that Barricade found himself wondering of what little he actually knew about her. Fortunately, the importance of the mission reminded him of how foolish his thoughts were and he deleted them from his CPU.

_She's a pawn. A means to an end. Her life is of little consequence to me_.

He pulled up at the curb and waited for the guards patrolling the area to approach warily. Once they were within range he wound down his blacked out windows and gave them a piercing look.

"Sir, we must ask that you remove your vehicle. There is parking for visitors and tourists across the street," one the the guards said, pointing to his left in a vague manner. The sloppy gesture was enough to give away the fact that this guy was no soldier, and if he were to use the handgun clipped to his side, he'd probably end up shooting himself by accidentally.

Resisting the urge to scoff and roll his eyes, Barricade gave the guards his most deadpan stare.

"Take a good look. Do I look like a tourist to you?" He growled the question a little more menacingly than he had intended, but it startled the guard into giving him a sheepish once over.

"Er… No?" he replied paling slightly at not been immediately obeyed by a member of the public. One of the other guards stepped forward in a vain attempt to appear brave, but to Barricade he came across as pathetic. Especially in the way he cradled his assault rifle to his chest like an infant.

_Remember, Zhe Alamo security vill not be a problem to get past. It is zhese S7 types zhat vill be dangerous_. Krauss' words still rang in his audio receptors, and they were the only thing keeping him on par with their plan. To blow cover now would no doubt result in Sector Seven wiping all their data before they even got into the facility.

"If you're not tourists then state your business here," the other guard demanded, his hands tightening on his weapon.

Barricade didn't bothering replying. Instead he reached into his front pocket and noticed with wry amusement that the guards visibly stiffened at his action. He slowly pulled out a black wallet which he flipped open and showed them the badge inside. 'United States of America' and 'Secret Service' were the words engraved on the plaque that stood out the most. The guards gasped in surprise and abruptly either let go or lowered their assorted weapons so fast you would have thought they had been burned by them.

"We've an appointment that we can't miss with your superiors. Inform them of our arrival and direct me to the private parking area," Barricade said in a haughty tone that sent the guards retreating double time back towards the Alamo. One of them remained behind to point them in the right direction before he too scurried back to his post.

The Decepticon scout pulled into a space and his holoform stepped out of his alt-form carrying the briefcase and walked round to grudgingly open the door for his human occupant. Aware that he was no doubt been watched, he gave a slight bow of respect towards Krauss as she joined him on the pavement. Only she could see the angry tic in the side of his jaw at been made to play the servant in this.

"Welcome! It is not often we have such distinguished guests in our presence," a strong Texan accent called out across the courtyard. They glanced over to see a large stout man with a handlebar moustache heading towards them flanked by several of his own guards. He gave them a warming smile as he closed the distance between them and offered out his pudgy hand. Barricade had to repress the urge to scoff in disgust. This fool was quick to label them as 'distinguished guests' without even knowing who them were, just because of a fake badge.

Neither Krauss nor Barricade took the hand in front of them. Instead they stared at the man with identical looks of suspicion and mistrust. Disheartened, he lowered his arm before speaking again still in a friendly manner.

"My name's Eric Sherman. I am the Administrator of this fine piece of our State's great history," he said proudly, pausing to give Barricade a smile, which grew wider when his eyes lingered on the Secret Service badge peaking out of his breast pocket. "It's always a pleasure to meet with you brave boys from the Capital. Would you mind telling me what brings you folks this far down South?"

"That information is reserved for your Director. I can't disclose anything to you without clearance," Barricade replied, casting a meaningful look at Krauss standing on his left.

"Ah, yes of course, I understand, Mr-?" Sherman trailed off expectantly.

"Besierwan."

"Mr. Besierwan," the Administrator raised an eyebrow at the name but accepted it with a nod nonetheless. He turned his gaze to settle on Krauss, whom he grinned broadly towards. "And might I also know the name of this lovely young lady?"

Barricade once again gave his female companion a glance in her direction. She frowned back at him and flicked her chin upwards. It was the conformation he was looking for to answer this man's question.

'_Here, take zhis. If anyone asks my name, I vant yoou to be saying zhis._'

"This is Ms. Natalya Mikhailovna, one of our official representatives at the Russian Embassy. She has been a most… charitable benefactress during her time in the US when not preoccupied with Governmental business. She has a particular interest in architectural restoration," Barricade responded and inclined his head towards the Alamo building complex meanfully. Sherman's eyes darkened at Krauss' name, only to light up at the unspoken offer.

"In that case may i just say how honoured then I am to meet someone of your standing, Ma'am," he drawled in a polite tone, then suddenly looked apologetic. "That being said, it pains me to have to tell you that we weren't informed ahead of your arrival, by anyone from Washington."

Barricade frowned, but didn't break character. "Ms. Mikhailovna has the jurisdiction to go where she pleases while not in council."

"I'm sure she does, Sir. Even so, we still need confirmation."

_Slag. _Barricade steeled himself to give a decent excuse when he felt a light touch on his arm. He turned to see Krauss glaring up at him.

"_Jeti idioty ne mogut ponjat' russkij jazyk, takim obrazom ja mogu govorit' svobodno Vam v moem rodnom jazyke. Skazhite im, chto oni oskorbili menja. / These idiots can not understand Russian, so I can talk freely to you in my native tongue. Tell them that they have insulted me_," she instructed the Holoform in irritated and clipped tones. Barricade looked back at Sherman's face. He may not have being able to understand her, but he certainly knew 'pissed off' when he heard it. The Decepticon relayed the words of his Russian companion and was delighted to see the look of growing alarm spreading across the large man's jowls.

"I meant no disrespect Ma'am, It's just protocol that's all!" Sherman protested, a note of panic rising in his voice.

"_Skazhite emu, chto jeto ne predstavljaet nikakogo moego interesa, chto nikto ne potrudilsja soobwat' emu otnositel'no nashego pribytija. Ja trebuju govorit' s kem to kompetentnym i dostojnyj roli liderstva._ / _Tell him that it is of no concern of mine that no one has bothered to inform him of our arrival. I demand to speak to someone competent and worthy of a leadership role,_" Krauss replied distastefully. Barricade smirked and eagerly translated.

"I'm afraid my Employer is not on call at the moment… But there's really no need to go that far is there?" Sherman asked with a shaky laugh.

"_Vyn'te vash telefon i fal'sificirujte zvonok. Skazhite emu ochen' horosho, esli on nastaivaet na tom, chtoby presledovat' jeto togda, on mozhet govorit' s Glavoj Sekretnoj sluzhby, no ja somnevajus', chto on budet ponimat' o tom, chtoby byt' narushennym._ / _Take out your phone and falsify a call. Tell him very well, if he insists on pursuing this then he can talk to the Head of the Secret Service, but I doubt he'll be understanding about being disturbed,_" Krauss said softly. Barricade nodded and pulled out a sleek black touch screen and started dialling as he translated again to the Administrator. The Texan man's eyes widened and he coughed uncomfortably.

Barricade put his 'phone' to his ear and concentrated on streaming audio files of a gruff male voice into it's hard drive. His red eyes whirled behind his shades as he worked. To his unaware audience, it looked like he was waiting for his call to get through. He synthesised the voice and scripted a satisfactory response to Sherman's request. Pleased with his efforts, Barricade started a one-sided conversation of the usual human formalities one would make whilst on the phone before handing his phone to Sherman.

"He wants to speak to you," Barricade sneered in a chilling tone. A pudgy hand grasped the phone and held it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Now you listen to me you backwater simpleton. I directly oversee over fifty different projects integral to our national security. So when I receive a phone call from some self-conceited ingrate who thinks he actually has any jurisdiction to start making demands of one of my men, I find my time been wasted on resolving these petty issues, when I should be focused on upholding the defence of our Country and our President. Now Mr. Sherman, do you think this is a constructive use of my time? Because I sure as Hell don't. So why don't you save yourself further embarrassment and let my man and Ms. Mikhailovna go wherever they please or I promise that you and your family will be living out of a cardboard box for the rest of your days. Good day, Mr. Sherman." The line went dead and to Barricade's pleasure, the idiot before him was sweating profusely, with his face bright scarlet and his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. After several minutes of spluttering usulessly, he regained some shred of dignity and meekly asked:

"If the Lady would like to follow me please, I'd be more than happy to give the both of you a full tour of the Alamo and it's more restricted areas."

Barricade retrieved his 'phone' from Sherman, not bothering to hide his smirk.

*******************************TBC************************************************

**Russian to English Translations:-**

_Govno! - _Shit!

_Amerika - _America

_Da_ - Yes

**Authoress' Note: I am still so amazed at how popular this story line is. Seriously guys, Thanks to you who review, favourite and just PM me with questions. it means a lot to know you like it. This Chapter was pretty exhausting because I wanted the plan to be bulletproof and technical yet also easy enough to follow without confusing anyone. In the next chapter, thanks to a 'distraction' by dear Barricade, Krauss is able to get inside the S7 facility beneath the Alamo. How they do this and whether the plan goes off without a hitch, you'll have to find out in Chapter 9.**

**PS. To any Russian speakers out there, I am currently trying to learn basic Russian, so if I have incorrectly used the language, please, please tell me and I'll correctly it immediately. Spasibo.**

**PPS. Barricade's chosen human surname: Besierwan is Old English and means "To Deceive."**

**Q and A****: Hey Guys, I got some lots of messages from fans asking different questions that I was unable or just forgot to answer (sorry). So in this segment, I will answer what I can for you lovely people who've being shown such an interest in my story. Be warned, I don't want to spoil my story for anyone so if I haven't answered your question here, it's because it's a SPOILER ALERT and I don't want to ruin it for you. Thanks again for reviewing, favoriting and messaging me!**

**1. Why does Krauss have such a heavy Russian accent when her brother doesn't?** _Well, Krauss' past will come up in later chapters to give a better explanation but the the short answer is: She had almost no interest whatsoever in learning English as a child. She reluctantly started to speak it a few years before the events of the story. Her brother's grasp of the language is much better because he had more exposure to English than she did._

**2. I ship this couple! Will Krauss and Barricade end up together? They have so much chemistry!** _First, I'm glad you like them enough to ship them in your own imagination. Unfortunately, these two will NOT end up together as a couple… Sorry._

**3. How old is Krauss?** _At this time, 21._

**4. Who's Alexei?** _Erm… I thought I explained this in the story plot. He's one of Krauss' older brothers and the middle child of the family._

**5. What is the relationship between Soundwave and Barricade? Are they good friends?** _No. They hate each other._

**6. Will Soundwave find out about Krauss? How does he react?** _First, yes he does find out. Second, that's a Spoiler Warning. You'll just have to wait and see. Feel free to guess in a review. Who knows, the reaction I like best might be in the chapter when it comes._

**7. Will we see some Autobot vs Barricade action in this?** _Of course. I'm following this chronologically with the movie time lines which includes the comics and novels that came out as well. Anyone who's read them will know that Barricade has a few face-offs against the autobots._

**8. Are you planning on going up to the 'Dark of the Moon' movie?** _Yes, I am eventually. I also plan on going further than that. DOTM will be a sequel to this story when it's finally finished. In the mean time, 'The Forgotten Scout' covers up to about a month after the second movie ends._

**9. Does Krauss have any interaction with the other Decepticons?** _Yes, but not much. Barricade doesn't like to share._

**10. Why would Krauss work with the Decepticons? Doesn't she care about betraying humanity?** _First of all, Krauss isn't working for the Decepticons, she working with Barricade and him alone. Second, in their dialogue in the 4th chapter, Barricade never said anything about the Decepticons wanting to enslave/destroy humanity. Hell, he didn't even tell her about the Allspark. Although Krauss knows she not working with a 'good guy,' she has no idea that aiding him could potentially bring the downfall of her entire race. And in all fairness, neither does Barricade_.

**11. Doesn't Krauss need to return to Russia to report back or something?** _Krauss works for her family rather than the Government so the only people expecting her to return soon are her brothers and grandfather._

**12. Will we see more of Raimond again?** _Probably not. he's not an integral character to the plot. I only really use him to add to Krauss' character._

**13. Who exactly is Krauss? Will we see something in her past?** _That's another Spoiler Alert. Yes, her past will come to light along will Barricade's, but you'll just have to wait and see._

**14. Will Barricade start being nicer to Krauss?** _Not really. He's starts to respect her and his attitude towards her does change, but that's about it._

**Well that's all of them. If yours didn't get answered, feel free to send us a message and I'll try to answer it next time. However, if what you ask is a major spoiler to the story, then please be sure you really want to know now instead of hanging in there and reading the later chapters. Ciao**


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